Price cuts on medicines will reduce the Irish State bill by €400m
The cost of hundreds of commonly used medicines will drop by an average of 10 per cent as a result of the agreement reached by the Department of Health and the manufacturers of branded pharmaceuticals.
The deal will knock €400 million off the State’s drugs bill over the next three years, according to both Minister for Health James Reilly and the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association, which represents the makers of branded medicines.
It will also result in lower prices for consumers buying their medicines over the counter, so long as savings in wholesale prices are passed on by pharmacists.
The projected overall reduction equates to about 7 per cent of the State’s €1.9 billion annual spend on drugs, but sources close to the talks said the average price drop would be somewhat higher than this.
No details of the price reductions that will apply to individual drugs were available yesterday, but the HSE is expected to publish details of the reduced prices that will apply from next month on its website by the end of the week.
In return for making price concessions, the pharmaceutical companies won acceptance of the principle that new medicines will be approved under the HSE’s drug schemes once they have been proven to be cost effective.
This could result in substantial future costs for the health service, as some of the sophisticated new treatments being developed by drug companies are hugely expensive.
The HSE is spending an additional €30 million this year on providing just six new cancer, hepatitis C and anti-coagulant drugs.
The agreement will not affect the price of most generic drugs, but this is being tackled through talks with the manufacturers of these drugs and proposed new legislation.
Under the legislation which comes before the Dáil today, a pharmacist will be able to dispense a generic version of a medicine even when a specific brand has been prescribed.
If a patient wants a more expensive branded drug, they will have to pay the difference in price.
The agreement with the drug companies is welcome relief for Dr Reilly, who has been embroiled in controversy for the past month over the siting of primary care centres in his constituency.
A clearly pleased Minister described the new deal yesterday as a “good news story” for all patients and not just those suffering from serious illnesses.
“It’s a good news story for patients because patients who have to buy their medicines across the counter will find it more affordable now, it will be cheaper. And for those who have medical cards, it means that the money that had been going into producing the drugs they require will now be available for other services within the GMS,” he said.
Speaking during a visit to Limerick yesterday he admitted it had been difficult to bring about the deal, which he said “took a long time”.
Proposals to cut the cost of medicines were the subject of intensive lobbying of the Government by the pharmaceutical multinationals, which account for half of Irish exports and employ 25,000 people.
However, the Government was also coming under increasing pressure from the troika over the escalating deficit in the health service.
Under the agreement, the biggest price falls of up to 50 per cent will apply to drugs that are already off patent or are going off patent.
However, this represents a minority of these companies’ business as the IPHA represents research-based companies that derive most of their profits from new drugs still on patent. Some 400 of these patent protected drugs will be the subject of a price review, according to the terms of the agreement.
Average reductions of up to 16 per cent are promised from this process.
A taskforce on prescribing and dispensing is also to be set up with the aim of delivering further cost saving by encouraging “more cost conscious prescribing”.
The cost of medicines to the Irish consumers is among the highest in the world. One recent survey found that the Irish prices for patented drugs were 45 per cent higher than in Sweden.
Meanwhile, the makers of generic drugs can charge up to 95 per cent of the cost of the branded equivalent.
Irish seaweed (dulse) could prove a boon in battle against high blood pressure
A common Irish seaweed could be used to reduce blood pressure, according to findings by Teagasc food scientists.
Members of the NutraMara marine research group, the scientists in Teagasc’s facility at Ashtown, Co Dublin, have found a renin-inhibitory peptide in the seaweed palmaria palmata, commonly known as dulse, a significant find as renin-inhibitory peptides have not been found in seaweed species before.
Commonly featured in pharmaceutical drugs, renin inhibitors are bioactive agents which are used primarily in the treatment of hypertension.
The Teagasc research could eventually have applications for foods and pharma companies.
Cardiovascular disease accounts for more than 4.3m deaths globally each year and high blood pressure is a main cause of the disease. Used as a protein source, the researchers have found that some seaweed proteins may have health benefits for use in functional foods.
The peptides are currently being assessed in bread products. Research work at Teagasc will also assess the effects of the seaweed protein hydrolysates on the technical and sensory attributes of bakery products, in particular bread.
Teagasc researcher Maria Hayes said: “Currently, analysis of a P palmata bread product is under way and the effects of the hydrolysate on the moisture content, ash, crude fat, fibre, and protein content have been assessed. The effects of the seaweed protein on the colour and texture profile of the bread are also being carried out.”
Teagasc researchers are looking to seaweed for proteins with health benefits for use as functional foods. Historically, seaweeds were consumed by coastal communities worldwide. Seaweed is a habitual diet in many countries, particularly in Asia.
Whole seaweeds have been successfully added to foods in recent times, ranging from sausages and cheese to pizza bases and frozen-meat products.
NutraMara programme manager Fiona Manning said: “NutraMara is trying to find bioactive components for use in functional foods. We are funded by the Marine Institute and we are looking specifically at marine sources; for example, how fish discards and waste streams can be used to have a positive effect in functional foods.”
The researchers have also shown that protein-rich red seaweeds such as dulse and porphyra (common name sleabhac or laver) species may potentially be used in the development of low-cost, highly nutritive diets that may compete with current protein crop sources such as soya beans.
For example, the protein content of dulse varies from between 9% and 25% depending on the season of harvesting.
The highest ratio of protein per gram in dried whole seaweed is normally found in dulse collected from October to January.
Dulse contains valuable amino acids such as leucine, valine, and methionine. In porphyra species, the amino acid profile is similar to those of peas or beans.
Bioactive peptides are food-derived peptides that exert a physiological, ‘hormone-like’, beneficial health effect. Proteins and peptides from food sources such as dairy, eggs, meat and fish are agents capable of reducing high blood pressure and are thought to be able to prevent cardiovascular disease.
‘Healthy advice’ now 7 portions of Fruit & Veg a day is a must for mental health well-being
If you do one thing this week . . . aim for seven portions of fruit and vegetables day.
“Make sure you get your five a day” – it’s common and sound advice to include plenty of different fruit and vegetables in our daily fare.
But should we be aiming for higher numbers?
A new study at Warwick University in the UK and Dartmouth College looked at cross-sectional data from around 80,000 people in England, Scotland and Wales.
And the analysis found that mental wellbeing peaked not at five but at seven servings of fruit and veg a day, where a serving is around 80 grams.
It’s important to stress that the study, due to be published in Social Research Indicators, doesn’t establish a causal link. But maybe it’s another motivator to reach for the fruit bowl instead of the biscuit barrel and to heap the dinner plate with an array of vegetables.
“Fearless Felix” the Skydiver breaks the sound barrier in 9 minutes
Felix Baumgartner jumps from more than 24 miles up on his way to shattering the sound barrier
In a giant leap from more than 24 miles up, a daredevil skydiver shattered the sound barrier on Sunday while making the highest jump ever – a tumbling, death-defying plunge from a balloon to a safe landing in the New Mexico desert.
Felix Baumgartner hit Mach 1.24, or 833.9 mph, according to preliminary data, and became the first person to reach supersonic speed without travelling in a jet or a spacecraft after hopping out of a capsule that had reached an altitude of 128,100 feet above the Earth.
Landing on his feet in the desert, the man known as “Fearless Felix” lifted his arms in victory to the cheers of jubilant friends and spectators who closely followed his descent in a live television feed at the command center
“When I was standing there on top of the world, you become so humble, you do not think about breaking records anymore, you do not think about gaining scientific data,” he said after the jump. “The only thing you want is to come back alive.”
A worldwide audience watched live on the Internet via cameras mounted on his capsule as Baumgartner, wearing a pressurised suit, stood in the doorway of his pod, gave a thumbs-up and leapt into the stratosphere.
“Sometimes we have to get really high to see how small we are,” an exuberant Baumgartner told reporters outside mission control after the jump.
Baumgartner said travelling faster than sound is “hard to describe because you don’t feel it.” The pressurized suit prevented him from feeling the rushing air or even the loud noise he made when breaking the sound barrier.
With no reference points, “you don’t know how fast you travel,” he said.
The 43-year-old former Austrian paratrooper with more than 2,500 jumps behind him had taken off early Sunday in a capsule carried by a 55-storey ultra-thin helium balloon.
Galway bay organic salmon fish farm could create 500 jobs
A PUBLIC consultation has begun into Bord Iascaigh Mhara’s licence application process for a deep-sea fish farm in Galway Bay near the Aran Islands.
The project has been described by BIM’s chief executive Jason Whooley as “extremely significant” involving a potential 500 jobs and €100 million of exports.
The licence application is for the production of 15,000 tonnes of organic-certified salmon a year which would double Ireland’s current salmon production.
Mr Whooley said this output would be built up over six years. The 500 new jobs would involve 350 jobs in production and processing and 150 indirectly in areas such as transportation and materials.
Mr Whooley said this would provide a €14.5 million annual wages flow, mainly in the vicinity of the proposed farm. Rossaveal is the nearest landing point for the fish.
Irish organic-farmed salmon is a premium product in Europe, and commands on average a 50 per cent premium on farmed salmon produced elsewhere. “The single biggest issue facing Irish salmon producers today is that they cannot fulfil the demand for their product,” said Mr Whooley.
The licence application must be approved by Minister for Agriculture, Marine and Natural Resources Simon Coveney, and over the next eight weeks any member of the public may make submissions to his department.
Friends of the Irish Environment has expressed concern at the fact that the department which approves the licence is also overseeing the body that has made the application.
Its director, Tony Lowes, said this was “regulatory capture at its purest”.
He has also raised concerns about issues such as the scale of the project, the potential for pollution and the spreading of disease.
Mr Whooley said an unprecedented level of scientific research had gone into identifying the locations, with some of the State’s most eminent marine scientists involved.
“We are confident that the very carefully chosen locations, matched with the rigorous monitoring that must accompany any salmon farm in Ireland, will enable the proposed development to run successfully and produce premium organic salmon, something that Ireland is world renowned for.”
He said the agency was committed to full and transparent communications during this consultation process, and wanted to ensure that members of the public were fully informed about the proposed development.
All of the application information, including the environmental impact statement, drawings and artists impressions of the proposed development, are now available on the BIM website bim.ie.
Copies have also been left in places such as Garda stations and post offices in the immediate area, and information meetings will be held over the coming weeks.
If the project is approved BIM will seek a suitable commercial operator to run the salmon farm. However, it will retain the licence so that the natural resource remains in the ownership of the State.
“This approach will allow BIM to apply additional standards to the running of the farm, to maximise returns to the local coastal economy in accordance with our mission to develop the Irish seafood industry and sustain coastal communities,” Mr Whooley said.
Barclays Entrepreneurs Index shows Irish firms making losses
A new report by Barclays assessing buying and selling of companies across Ireland and Britain has found that Ireland was the only country where on average businesses experienced a loss.
Barclays Entrepreneurs Index found over 440 growing Irish firms saw a change in shareholding between the second half of 2011 and first half of 2012.
The report is the first of its type to track shareholder changes in growing businesses with turnovers between €6m and €248m across Ireland and Britain.
The report, based on data from the Companies Registration Office, found that due to difficult trading conditions, the growing companies in Ireland that saw shareholder changes experienced an average loss of €550,000.
The report, based on data from the Companies Registration Office, found that due to difficult trading conditions, the growing companies in Ireland that saw shareholder changes experienced an average loss of €550,000.
The report is based on the assumption that shareholder changes are caused by firms running out of funds due to shareholders selling stakes.
Ian Talbot, CEO of Chambers Ireland, said: “These findings are largely consistent with what we’re seeing on the ground.
“Certain sectors have been affected by the troubles in the construction industry, which has caused a slump in profits and had a knock-on effect on associated sectors and services. However, there are also opportunities in this climate for surviving companies in the market to acquire smaller businesses, which in turn, creates growth and employment.”
Ireland was the only region where the companies measured averaged a loss.
In the North, the average profit of the 132 firms measured was €1.7m. London returned the highest figure with an average profit of €4.27m from the 2,000 firms that have seen changes in shareholdings.
The Irish companies included in the study were also on average the youngest across England and Ireland. The average age of an Irish company was 15.5 years. The UK average was 20 years.
However 15 years is a sizeable period suggesting these companies were not being set up and sold on, or flipped, quickly.
Pat McCormack, head of wealth and investment management at Barclays Ireland said: “The overall decline in shareholder changes in these companies indicates that it is harder for businesses to be sold, mainly due to the continued uncertainty in the global economy.
“Acquirers are less willing to take risks, and the business owners themselves are more likely to sit it out until conditions improve.”
