SPAIN’S health ministry has vetoed another price hike affecting a popular and crucial over-the-counter drug which has trebled in cost since 2012.
Fortasec, used to treat diarrhoea and a travel essential, cost €2.81 for a box of 20 capsules or €1.89 for a box of 10 back in 2012 – prices which have shot up to €8.95 and €5.95 respectively since then.
Over 2.2 million boxes of Fortasec are sold every year in Spain.
And the company wanted to increase the cost to the consumer yet again from this month – but for the first time, the ministry of health has exercised its right to veto another hike.
In the case of medications categorised as ‘price notifiable’, the pharmaceutical laboratories which produce them are required to inform the government of any changes in cost, since the price is not State-controlled.
Until now, Spain’s ministry of health has always signed off price changes in over-the-counter medication – and in some cases, this has led to costs of essential drugs quadrupling in just a few years.
Fortasec is one of 417 medications that the former right-wing PP-led government opted to cease financing through prescriptions back in 2012 in order to cut its spending by €450 million.
These included cough syrup such as Flutox, Mucosan and Fluimucil, anti-inflammatory gels or creams such as Voltarén and Calmatel, and antacids like Almax.
Health minister María Luisa Carcedo said it was ‘unjustified’ for medicines no longer available on prescription – meaning patients have to pay the full price for them – to rise in cost to such a degree.
“In many cases, drugs which have ceased to be State-financed suffer price hikes which, in our view, are totally unjustified: we’re talking of the cost multiplying several times over after they stop being available on prescription,” Sra Carcedo says.
“We’re not going to authorise yet another price rise for Fortasec, because it’s totally disproportionate to the actual cost of the product.”
The ministry has applied the ‘Medications Law’ in this case, and intends to use it on a case-by-case basis.
