OBJECTIVES: Rapid increase of costs of reimbursement in Poland led to redesign of the drug pricing mechanisms. As a result a new law which brought revolutionary changes to the healthcare system was introduced in 2012. The aim of this work is to summarize the two years of new drug policy in Poland and to present mechanisms that resulted in substantial savings in reimbursement costs. METHODS: Few savings-generating mechanisms were implemented in the new reimbursement law: negotiations of prices, new method of calculation of reimbursement limit (resulting in higher co-payment) and also formal obstacles in obtaining prescriptions for reimbursed products (some reimbursed drugs, i.e. antibiotics, due to formal issues are prescribed with 100% co-payment). The first and the third reason result in lower overall costs of reimbursed medicines, while the second reason influences the proportion of costs borne by the National Health Fund. We have analyzed data on prices of reimbursed drugs before 2012 and after implementation of the new law (currently the prices may change every two months). We have then compared the amount of sales of those drugs, costs of reimbursement and patients’ co-payment. For some reference groups (i.e. oral aromatase inhibitors) we made in-depth analysis of pricing mechanisms. RESULTS: In 2012 total public expenditures amounted to 2.3 billion EUR, 83% of the planned budget, which gave 460 million EUR savings as compared to 2011. In 2013 the drug budget was executed in 87%, resulting in 430 million EUR savings. Saving were driven by price negotiations, but also by mechanisms of lowering the reimbursement limit, i.e. in case of oral aromatase inhibitors the reimbursement limit was lowered by half during 2012-2013. CONCLUSIONS: The new reimbursement law resulted in substantial savings in costs of drugs. The success is however relative, as costs of drugs were partially shifted towards patients.