Norway's National Drug Policy: Its Evolution and Lessons for the Future
Author(s)
Andrew, Marit; Joldal, Bjorn; Tomson, Goran
Abstract
Norway provides an interesting and significant example of a successful National Drug Policy. Characteristics such as a ‘need clause’ (which implies that a drug is assessed not only from a scientific and technical viewpoint but also in relation to medical need, and thus the social perspective of health priorities), a restrictive attitude to fixed combination drugs and the limiting of approval and registration of a drug to a five-year period have kept the number of pharmaceuticals at a reasonable level – just over 2,000 – and protected consumers from useless or unnecessary drugs. This development towards an equitable National Drug Policy has occurred without any major conflicts between the health authorities, the professional organizations and the drug industry. The author believe the reason for this may be that the Norwegian drug policy has developed in stages through most of this century and has been part of a health policy and an overall social policy – which may be characterized as typically Scandinavian – where the emphasis on equity has been one of the main pillars. This emphasis goes right through the system as it now works and has been particularly evident in the field of drug distribution, where the less profitable pharmacies in marginal areas are sustained by more profitable ones located in more populated areas, a modern ‘Robin Hood approach’. The importance attached to the last link in the drug chain – patients and prescribers – is another example of this emphasis.
