Normally we expect branded devices to maintain their pharmacy purchase prices over long periods of time. However, here this is not the case. Charles Joynson, WaveData MD investigates further.
Looking at the long term market price trends of Freestyle Optium Test Strips 50 it can be seen that this product has not been able to do maintain market price, despite rising reimbursement prices and parallel import prices which are 3% higher than the brand’s UK prices. It may be that the brand has been abandoned by the UK manufacturer as 75% of the price list marketing activity to pharmacies and dispensing doctors is for the parallel import.
One Touch Verio Test Strips 50 also has a very high level of parallel import activity and 84% of the offers in price lists are for the PI. Although the average market price has been erratic over the last ten years, it still maintains a much higher market price than Freestyle Optium Test Strips 50.
The product which has held its price position over the full ten year period is Accu-Chek Aviva Test Strips 50. 77% of this product’s marketing activity is for the PI, and the PI is slightly cheaper (1.6%) than the UK brand, so we’d expect the market price to be falling in line with or even faster than the other two.
The quantity prescribed per year is highest for Accu-Chek Aviva at over 30 million units. It’s less for Freestyle Optium at just under 20 million and only 4 million for One Touch Verio.
The most likely reason for the difference is that some products are still being managed by their UK manufacturer whereas others have been abandoned. It is possible that products with low sales will be abandoned sooner than products with larger sales because the slice of the pie left after the PI has taken sales is still worth managing.