"We have just finished a council meeting and I am not aware" that any pharmaceutical industry has received payments from the public administrations to date to cover the debts owed by the sector to the state, amounting to approximately 4 billion euros. This was stated to Pharmakronos by the president of Farmindustria, Massimo Scaccabarozzi, after the recent entry into force of the decree specially passed by the Monti government. Farmindustria data show payment times in Italy equal on average to 211 days in the October-December 2012 quarter, and 236 days in the last 12 months. The 'black jersey' goes to Molise with 804 days in the quarter and 749 in the last year, followed by Calabria (605 and 672 days). The most virtuous Region is instead Friuli Venezia Giulia (43 days and 72 days respectively). Scaccabarozzi defines the text of the decree for the payment of public administration debts as "very complex" and recalls that for drug companies there is still "a 'trap', which is that of the blockade for the whole of 2013 of foreclosures in local health authorities and hospitals in the Regions under Repayment plan, provided for by law 189/2012, i.e. the 'Balduzzi decree' And the credits we boast are for the 60% precisely in the Regions in 'red'.
Until this obstacle is removed, it will be difficult for companies to collect". – Another aspect on which to intervene, according to the president of Farmindustria, is that "of the expansion of compensations: it must be remembered that the pharmaceutical industry is called to compensate public spending through various mechanisms. But the institutions to which we must give, are the same ones from which we should receive. And if compensation were extended, it would be a cost-free system that would not even affect European parameters".
April 18, 2013 – PharmaKronos
