Wouter Bos, former finance minister and now chairman of the VU Medical Centre in Amsterdam, has proposed capping the profits of pharmaceutical companies in order to reduce the price of drugs.

Bos told the Financieele Dagbad on Friday there should be a maximum of 10% profits for pharmaceutical companies instead of the 20% or more which is now common in the industry.

The pharmaceutical industry has been under fire for high prices which mean treatment for some patients costs tens of thousands of euros a year.

‘When the telecoms industry was privatised, we let industry watchdog Opta set maximum profit margins. We should do the same sort of thing for the pharmaceutical sector,’ he said. ‘And we feel that premier division football must not disappear behind the decoder in favour of commercial interests. We act tough on telephones and football, but do nothing about pharma.’