Cost containment and cut-to-bone price cuts are putting the quality of medicines at risk, especially if they lead patients to buy more and more low-cost products made in China and India. This was highlighted by Gerard van Odjik, president and CEO of Teva Europe, during the annual meeting of the European Organization of Wholesalers (Girp) which was held in Cannes in recent days.
Many European countries - reports Scripnews - have introduced price reductions for medicines to contain public spending. However, this system is nothing new: cost pressures have always been there, said van Odjik, who heads the Israeli generics company.
"Patients find it hard to believe that even in the pharmaceutical world something can go wrong," added the manager. But measures that focus only on containing prices, such as a procurement and cutbacks policy, have already compromised the quality of medicines.
However, Teva has chosen to move away from India and China to focus on its M&A business in Europe. The recent purchase of Ratiopharm, a German company of generic medicines, for a value of 3.6 billion, includes a "very well managed" Ulm production site, says the CEO.
"Investing in Ulm is better than investing in China or India," van Odjik assured. If you look at the prices charged by Indian and Chinese companies and, for example, the share of processing costs, you can understand that these industries have somewhat "shortened the path", says van Odjik, according to whom the European medicines (EMEA) should force the companies of these countries to adopt our same quality and price system.
"Then yes – he assures – everyone would prefer Europe. Price is an important factor, but quality is the winning factor.
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