– The Swiss complain about high prices – and yet they resort to the expensive original drug
Medicines are too expensive in Switzerland, according to criticism. A new survey now shows that when it comes to pricing, the population is calling for more government – but behaving in a contradictory way.
If it’s expensive, then the original product, please: A pharmacist sorts medicines in a pharmacy in Buchs SG.
Photo: Christian Beutler (Keystone)
Anyone who buys medication in a Swiss pharmacy pays more than in neighboring European countries. This year, too, the foreign price comparison for original medicines and imitation products, the so-called generics, shows significant price differences. Patent-protected medicines cost an average of 5.4 percent less in other European countries than in Switzerland – generics even cost 45.5 percent less.
