State Institute for Drug Control

State Institute for Drug Control
Státní ústav pro kontrolu léčiv
SÚKL office in Prague
SÚKL office in Prague
Agency overview
Formed1952 (1952)
JurisdictionGovernment of the Czech Republic
HeadquartersPrague 10, Czech Republic
50°4′33.6″N 14°28′22.53″E / 50.076000°N 14.4729250°E / 50.076000; 14.4729250
Websitewww.sukl.eu

The State Institute for Drug Control (Czech: Státní ústav pro kontrolu léčiv) is a Czech government agency responsible for regulation of the safe production of pharmaceuticals in the country, clinical evaluation of medicines and for monitoring the advertising and marketing of both medicines and medical devices.[1] Its powers stem from the Act on Public Health Insurance (Act No. 48/1997 Coll.).

Only part of its operating costs are directly funded. It is largely self-financing through charges for its services.[2]

The SÚKL sets maximum ex-factory prices for reimbursement based on 195 reference groups of therapeutically interchangeable products of similar clinical efficacy.[3] More than 20% of the health budget is spent on medication and medical devices. From January 2019 it took responsibility for regulating the reimbursement of consumer medical devices prescribed as part of outpatient care.[4]

It allocates codes and names of medications for use in the electronic prescribing system.[5]

It has been criticised by KOPAC, the Patient Association for Cannabis Treatment, for failing to ensure a supply of Czech medical cannabis so that patients have to pay inflated prices for imported supplies.[6]

  1. ^ "The State Institute for Drug Control (SUKL) Czech Republic". Pharma Boardroom. 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  2. ^ "Case of SÚKL". Nadační fond proti korupci. 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  3. ^ "Prices & Reimbursement". Pharmaceuticals in the Czech Republic. 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  4. ^ "New reimbursement regulation for consumer medical devices". Lexology. 11 February 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  5. ^ "The ePrescription System: Draft amending the Act on Medicines is under discussion in the Parliament of the Czech Republic". Lexology. 9 November 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  6. ^ "Czech patients have no reason to celebrate 5 years of legal medical cannabis, as the State Institute for Drug Control (SÚKL) forces them to break the law". Kopac. 27 April 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.