2015-05-09
RIGA - A 2016 investigation on the price of cancer medicines in five European countries revealed that drug manufacturers sometimes charge higher prices for drugs in poor Eastern countries than in the West.
The published articles received wide exposure at both national and European levels and sparked heated debate about access to treatment among grassroots groups, cancer specialists and politicians. As a result, in Latvia, the government agreed to allocate extra funding for cancer detection and treatment.
The Bulgarian Society for Medical Oncology used the information for lobbying purposes. As a result, the government re-instated drugs they had taken off the market. In Switzerland patient groups lobbied members of Parliament and the government on unfair pricing practices of Swiss drug companies. One of the published articles received the German Association of Pharmacists’ Expopharm Media Prize and was nominated for the German Reporter Prize for Best Investigation.
