Tamiflu prices spike amid epidemic

Prices for one box of the antiviral drug Tamiflu have risen from NT$800 to NT$950, up by almost 18 percent, said legislators of the ruling party.

Lawmaker Lu Hsueh-chang pointed out that the price difference translates into a NT$15 spike in prices per pill, or one of the 10 doses that comprise the entire course.

With a current stock supply of 2.2 million boxes, the DOH is poised to purchase another five million, Lu said.

But given the 18 percent increase, this will set the nation's treasury back by a staggering NT$750 million, added Lu.

He decried the NHI officials for taking the lead to purchase at the raised priced, in volumes and helping pharmaceutical companies to profit from the price hike.

In response to accusations, Shen Mao-ting, an official with the NHI, explained that the reason the Centers for Disease Control was able to secure the NT$800 price tag is the negotiability for bulk purchases.

But after the sinking into a worldwide pandemic, market prices have risen significantly, Shen said.

A spokesperson for Roche, the pharmaceutical company that distributes Tamiflu, stressed the fair pricing of the drug.

He was cited as saying that the medication had retained the same NT$800 in price since its release in 2001 and made the upward adjustment only this past Aug. 15.

Given strengthening of the Swiss franc over the last eight years, the NHI had originally planned to take the exchange rate into account by setting the price at NT$1,150, before Roche slashed it back down to NT$950, the spokesman said.

He added that every Tamiflu pill goes for NT$302 in the United States, NT$155 in Germany, NT$130 in Belgium, NT$111 in Japan and NT$110 in France, far more expensive than the price Roche is offering in Taiwan.

According to Shen, the NHI consulted internationally set market values before agreeing to the current price.

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