The Health Economics team of the Gesundheit Österreich GmbH, Geschäftsbereich ÖBIG (Austrian Health Institute) has a long tradition of surveying and analysing health care and
pharmaceutical systems in Europe. The studies "Pharmaceuticals - Market Control in Nine European countries" (1998), "Pharmaceutical Expenditure - Cost-Containment Strategies in the European Union" (2001) and
"Pharmaceutical Systems in the New EU Member States" (2005) are just three examples of reports providing concise information on reimbursement, pricing and distribution of pharmaceuticals in several European countries (see also the list of publications in the Annex to this report). Additionally, ÖBIG runs the Pharmaceutical Price Information (PPI) service, which offers independent and up-to-date information on the prices of pharmaceuticals at all price levels (ex-factory price, pharmacy purchase price, pharmacy retail price) in the 25 EU Member States (year 2006) plus Norway and Switzerland. More details on our service may be obtained in the Annex to this report. To keep the PPI service updated, ÖBIG continually keeps track of the developments in the European pharmaceutical systems. As a result of this continuous monitoring, ÖBIG is pleased to present the report called "Pharmaceutical Systems in the European Union 2006". The report consists of two parts. For each EU Member State, the present Part 1 provides in 25 fact sheets concise, countryspecific information on market authorisation, pricing, reimbursement and distribution of
pharmaceuticals in 2006. Part 2 offers a comparative analysis, with key information displayed in tables and figures.