The Dutch government could buy expensive medicines for lower prices by joining together with other European countries, the national healthcare association NZa said in a report published on Monday.

The NZa carried out its research for the report with experts and a number of interested parties, such as hospitals and scientific institutes.

Buying-in collectively would ‘create a strong purchasing power which would guarantee the accessability and affordability of new and innovative medicines’, the report says.

If it is not possible to purchase collectively at a European level, the NZa says hospitals, health insurers, doctors and dispensing chemists in the Netherlands should join forces.

The report also says that the price of a medicine should be lowered as soon as it is prescribed for more patients. At the moment, new medicines are prescribed for a small number of patients with a specific disorder, keeping the price high.

The use of these medicines is often widened to cover more patients and more disorders, but the price remains high. The NZa wants a legal maximum price for expensive medicines.