As expected, price sensitivity is generally higher for price changes above a price reference point than below.
External price referencing is a common pricing procedure applied in 22 EU Member States [ 8].
Austria, which, as described, applies external price referencing, also established a national price survey system.
Currently, Cyprus applies external price referencing (EPR), the dominant pricing policy within European Union.
In terms of financial accessibility, the generic price reference system in Belgium seems to work well.
To set the price, the method of external price referencing (international price comparison) is applied, and prices must not exceed average of the prices in other European Union Member States [ 22].
Several cost containment approaches such as price reductions, internal price referencing, tendering and risk-sharing have been applied extensively.
During the last decade, the tools of external price referencing (international price comparisons) and reference price systems (limitation of reimbursement for identical or similar medicines in a cluster) have been increasingly used in several EU Member States.
For the scope of external price referencing, Drug Price Control Committee uses one expensive, two medium and one cheap EU countries.
Moreover, innovative status of sorafenib implies that cost-containment approaches such as tendering and internal price referencing are relatively ineffective.
