Medicine expenses hit the regions’ budgets despite price drops and patent expirations. The regions’ medicine expenses continue to rise, creating economic challenges despite price reductions and patent expirations. According to a press release from the Danish Regions (Danske Regioner), increased expenses for medications such as diabetes medicine will lead to a total increase of 400 million Danish kroner in 2024. Even though there has been a price reduction on certain types of diabetes medicine and a patent expiration on blood thinning medication, it is not enough to stop the overall increase in expenses.
Examples of medications contributing to the rising costs include Ozempic from Novo Nordisk, as well as medications for ADHD and blood thinning drugs. Earlier in 2023, the regions also experienced an increase in medicine expenses of a total of 1.7 billion kroner. These high expenses forced the regions to implement a series of savings in hospitals, including reducing the pace of scheduled surgeries. Mads Duedahl, Vice Chairman of the Danish Regions, points out that the problem with high medicine expenses has not disappeared. “We risk having to slow down again this year,” he stated in the press release.
Currently, the Danish Regions are in negotiations with the government regarding next year’s financial agreement to find solutions to the economic challenges.