The Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency, on behalf of the government, will investigate how Sweden's willingness to pay affects patients' access to new treatments and how it could affect the costs of pharmaceutical benefits.
"The government is now analyzing how changes in the world around us affect access to medicines in Sweden," writes Minister of Social Affairs Jakob Forssmed (KD) in an op-ed in Dagens industri.
Estrogen treatment is used, among other things, for menopausal symptoms and is important for health and quality of life.
Swedish prices for new medicines are 18 percent below the European average, according to an international price comparison. In addition, current statistics show that fewer new medicines are reaching Swedish patients.
The organization Lif - the research-based pharmaceutical companies - welcomes the government's decision.
"Cost efficiency is important, but low prices can never be a goal in itself if the consequence is that Sweden loses investments in research and development, that patients have to wait longer for new treatments or that medicines are not available on the Swedish market," says Sofia Wallström, CEO of Lif, in a press release.
