Infarmed, the Portuguese medicines and medical devices agency, has now set a reference retail price for medical cannabis patients in pharmacies that equals the black-market price – but still no word on whether health insurers will reimburse the costs.
Portuguese patients can look forward to a more regulated retail price for medical cannabis at pharmacies as of April this year. Infarmed, the Portuguese version of the FDA, has set the price for 15-gram bags of medical cannabis at the point of sale in pharmacies at €150 per bag of 18% THC flower. This means that retail prices for cannabis in pharmacies is now set at widely set black market rates across Europe.
This price point is also roughly equivalent to what insurers are reimbursing pharmacies for in Germany – which begins to create a regional, not just in-country reference price for the industry.
The next problem is, however, is that unlike Germany, the list of conditions the drug will be prescribed for is much narrower than in Deutschland (basically six conditions commonly seen in MS, cancer, AIDS and chronic pain). Further, there is no discussion (yet) as to whether national health will cover the cost (as is true in Germany, even if it is still a major bureaucratic, paper strewn fight). In Germany, those patients who are able to obtain coverage face a bill of €12 a month.
Read more at internationalcbc.com