Government policy targets the price and volume of medicine use to cut healthcare spending. In this analysis, Itinera examines the need and potential for such reforms, what are the advantages and disadvantages, and how to proceed further. The need for reform is substantial in short term, with a potential of 444 million euro in yearly savings because of price competition after patent expiry. In the long run, a refocusing towards evidence based medicine use is needed to partially address the issue of rising care expenditure.