Pharmaceutical expenditure in Sweden

Recently, the responsibility for prescribed pharmaceuticals in Sweden was t ransferred from national level to the regional health authorities (county c ouncils). The purpose was that a closer integration and balance between pha rmaceuticals and other factors of production in health care should produce better opportunities for a cost-effective use of the total health care reso urces. The purpose of this paper is to present a deeper analysis of pharmac euticals as a production factor in Sweden, mainly during the 1990s, and to discuss the future development and future policy decisions in Sweden. Pharm aceuticals have increased their share of total health care expenditure in S weden, from about 9% in 1990 to about 14% in 1995. The Swedish pharmaceutic al market can be divided into sub-markets, where the prescription sub-marke t accounts for the greater part of pharmaceutical expenditure. Further, a f ew disease categories account for a larger fraction of the cost of prescrib ed pharmaceuticals. The importance of pharmaceuticals as a production facto r also differs between different age groups. Several factors are expected t o contribute to a future increase in Swedish pharmaceutical expenditure, fo r instance an ageing population and the rapid introduction of expensive new pharmaceuticals. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserve d.