This study is aimed at analyzing the effectiveness of state intervention in the form of pharmaceutical external price referencing (EPR) in selected EU countries, as well as the description of drug policy and EPR in the analyzed countries. Among the analyzed countries, the United Kingdom and Sweden have been selected as representatives who don't use EPR regulation. On the other hand, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, Spain and the Netherlands are countries that regulate using EPR. The prices of selected pharmaceutical products in all of those states are converted into producer prices, on which most countries concentrate EPR. Prices are analyzed after the conversion of nominal and real exchange rates. The lowest prices are found in the Netherlands and the UK. This proves that EPR doesn't bring lower prices for medicine in the countries which use it. Further rankings vary based on the exchange rates used. The paper also analyzes the achievement of price ceilings in the Czech Republic, where the maximum prices set by regulators of EPR (including VAT) are compared with the average prices in pharmacies. All analyzed medicinal product prices are below the ceilings, which also proves the ineffectiveness of this intervention.