The Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, has informed of the agreement reached to limit the maximum price of the COVID-19 self-testing antigen tests to 2.94 euros following the meeting of the Interministerial Commission on Drug Prices.
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The Interministerial Commission on Medicines Prices is the body responsible for setting the prices of medicines financed by the National Health System, specifically for the selling price of laboratory and medical devices and other products. Minister Carolina Darias assured that “the main objective has been to set a price that is as affordable as possible, always maintaining a balance so that the product is available in the pharmaceutical channel”.
Thus, the agreement, adopted unanimously, has been to set the maximum retail price for self-testing antigen tests at 2.94 euros. This price will apply to all self-testing antigen tests sold in pharmacies and authorised for sale by the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (Agencia Española de Medicamentos y Productos Sanitarios). The Director of the Basic Portfolio of Services of the National Health System and Pharmacy of the Ministry of Health will sign the resolution today. It will be published tomorrow in the BOE and will come into force the day after its publication, i.e. Saturday.
It should be remembered that this body is chaired by the Ministry of Health and is made up of one member from each of the autonomous communities and the following Ministries: Ministry of Finance and Public Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation and Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism. The Commission has analysed information related to the sales price of the distribution companies to pharmacies, the retail price by pharmacies and the sales price in neighbouring countries.
Minister Darias explained that “in our country, self-testing antigen tests with CE marking, from July 2021, can be purchased in pharmacies, without the need for prescription and at an over-the-counter price” and added that “currently, the marketing in Spain of 40 rapid self-testing antigen tests for COVID 19 has been reported. We have gone from 22 in November to 40 at present”.
With regard to the sale of these pharmaceuticals, especially in recent weeks, “given the situation between supply and demand, the Ministry and the Spanish Medicines Agency have been in contact with the parties involved, monitoring the situation and adopting the necessary measures to help resolve the issue,” he recalled.
Thus, in response to this exponential increase in the demand for tests, as a temporary measure, the AEMPS issued express authorisations to allow the sale in pharmacies of certain antigen tests for professional use for the general population, specifically 3, and the number of companies authorised to market the tests with instructions in another language has been increased to 6. “Thus, having stabilised the supply, we now proceed to the regulation of the maximum retail price. Thus, in accordance with the applicable regulations, we have convened the Interministerial Commission on Medicines Prices (CIPM), which will be held tomorrow for this purpose,” the minister remarked.