Second joint Nordic tendering procedure for medicines completed

With contracts now signed for all requested ​medicines, we have now completed the second joint Nordic tendering procedure for medicines, and have reached new milestones in several areas.​​
– ​More than anything, we're delighted that this time we've managed to put together a model such that these new agreements include Iceland. Furthermore, in close cooperation with suppliers, this is the first time we've been able to include environmental requirements in our tendering procedures. This is a practice we will definitely continue. We've taken the first step, but the aim is that together with  the suppliers, we can ensure more sustainable supplies of medicines, said Flemming Sonne, CEO at Amgros.
​​Iceland obtains lower prices
Iceland had particular challenges in the first joint Nordic tendering procedure. Even early on, several suppliers announced that it would not be financially feasible to apply for marketing authorisation for such a small market. Some suppliers that already had these marketing authorisation for their medicines said that, because of special agreements with agents in Iceland, they could not participate in the tendering procedure.
This time we managed to overcome this issue.
– ​With support from the Icelandic authorities and in close collaboration with the Icelandic Medicines Agency, a model was found which made it possible for suppliers to apply for marketing authorization more quickly. We're very pleased that this resulted in bids for the Icelandic tendering procedure. The result means that several new medicines will now be registered on the Icelandic market, and tender prices are considerably lower than before, said Hulda Harðardóttir, project manager for pharmaceutical procurement at the Procurement Department Landspítali, Iceland.
Another step toward securing​​ medicine supplies
Why solve challenges alone when we can solve them better together?This is the fundamental idea behind the joint Nordic tendering procedure on the supply of medicines to public hospitals.
There are growing challenges to supplying hospitals with medicines. If we can join other countries to form a larger market for selected medicines, we will become more attractive for suppliers with a larger volume covered by our tenders.
– ​ It seems that we have found yet another good way to secure the supply of medicines to Danish hospitals. Even during the first common Nordic tendering procedure, we received bids for all the medicines that we invited tenders for, and now we've done it again. We've also been able to stimulate competition for several of the tenders, with a number of tenderers submitting bids. Therefore, we have good reason to continue down this route, said Tommy Juhl Nielsen, acting director at Norge Sykehusunnkjøp HF, divisjon legemidler.
Support from suppliers

As this is the first time we have had to draw up a common tendering procedure, with the environment included as an award criterion, we were excited to see whether this would have any impact on the number of tenderers.

Out of 12 suppliers, 11 met all the environmental criteria. This shows that including sustainability in the evaluation of the bids does not seem to keep suppliers from bidding.Ultimately, however, the difference in price between successful and unsuccessful bidders was so large that the environment was not the decisive factor.
– ​We have a strong ambition to contribute to the green agenda in all three Nordic countries. We have now taken the first important steps. We're very happy with the strong support from our suppliers that allowed us to go through with this this first Nordic tendering procedure with environmental criteria. We'd like to thank them for their commitment and involvement. We look forward to continuing our close cooperation to develop common Nordic tendering procedures, the next time with even stronger environmental requirements, said Flemming Sonne.​ ​