Amgros in Denmark, Landspitali in Iceland and Hospital Purchases HF in Norway are together in the first joint procurement that is now being carried out in the pharmaceutical field.

 

Last autumn, Norwegian Minister of Health Bent Høie signed a letter of intent with his Danish colleague Ellen Trane Nørby to conduct joint procurement on selected pharmaceuticals. Icelandic Minister of Health Svandís Svavarsdóttir will soon sign an addendum to the letter of intent with Denmark and Norway.

  

In addition, the focus has been on improving consistency in supply of life-critical pharmaceuticals that have been on the market for a long time with strong price competition. In this area, failure in delivery is a dramatically increasing problem and a challenge for patient care. 

As for the latter issue, the purchasing organisations in the three countries have prepared the first procurement of the drugs methotrexate, anagrelide, meropenem, ondansetrone, gentamycin, and paracetamol. The three countries are now ready to publish their first joint procurement. 

 

“It is encouraging that we have achieved this cooperation across national borders. We believe such collaboration can be the way to go to achieve better consistency in supply. This is the first procurement we make with our neighbours. And if it is successful, we look forward to collaborating on several drug procurements”, says purchasing director Lise Grove in Amgros I/S. ​