Study finds people in poorer nations might be paying more for same essential drugs, compared to rich countries

New Delhi, Aug 18 (PTI) An analysis of prices of about 550 medicines across 72 countries in 2022 has found that people in low- and middle-income nations could be paying more compared to wealthier ones for the same essential drugs, thereby placing a disproportionate cost burden on patients in poorer nations.

Researchers from the US' Brown University and London School of Economics and Political Science (UK) said that 'nominal price' or the price stated on a medicine was higher in richer countries. However, upon accounting for purchasing power in the local currency, actual prices were found to be higher in poorer countries.

They estimated that the typical number of doses of essential medicines consumed per person in 2022 was highest in Europe (634) and lowest in Southeast Asia (143).

The results, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Health Forum, indicate that poorer countries face a higher burden of medicine costs, the authors said.

For example, they added, while prices in India were low in nominal terms (fourth lowest of the 72 markets analysed), the prices were toward the middle of the range after purchasing power was taken into account (29th of 72 markets).

They also noted that while nominal prices were the lowest in Pakistan, actual prices were closer to those in Germany upon accounting for purchasing power.

Drug prices were also found to vary between countries by disease that the drug is used for treating.

For most countries, the highest-priced drugs tended to be those used for treating mental and behavioural disorders and cardiovascular conditions, while the lowest-priced products were those to treat hepatitis B and C, the authors said.

The team further looked at eight essential medicines, used for treating major causes of death and disability the world over, including the antibiotic 'amoxicillin' (used to treat community-acquired pneumonia), escitalopram (depression) and ibuprofen (pain). Affordability for the drugs was assessed based on number of days' minimum wages required for purchasing the drugs.

People in India would need to work the most number of days at minimum wage -- about 10 days -- to pay for a monthly regimen of tenofovir disoproxil (used for treating Hepatitis B and HIV/AIDS) out of pocket, the team said.

Affordability was found to be typically highest in Europe and the Western Pacific, and lowest in Africa and southeast Asia.

"Our results show that while drugs may have a lower nominal price in low- and middle-income countries, they may still be less affordable when considering the relative purchasing power of local currencies," the authors wrote.

"This indicates that some poorer countries face a higher burden of medication costs," they added. PTI KRS KRS KRS