Greece. Drug war between Tsipras and pharmaceutical companies

Fedaisf editorial staff

October 31, 2017

It is increasingly difficult for pharmaceutical companies to do business in Greece. And so a company has decided to withdraw an innovative oncological drug from the market.

affaritaliani – Martedì, 31 ottobre 2017

A multinational pharmaceutical company has decided to withdraw an innovative cancer drug from the Greek market, claiming that its price has decreased by 50% due to government regulatory interventions in the pharmaceutical sector.

Drug multinationals fleeing Greece

Stecondo una lettera vista da Euractiv, che riporta la notizia, la società farmaceutica ha notificato al ministero della salute greco il 30 ottobre la sua decisione di ritirare un nuovo farmaco oncologico dall’elenco dei medicinali prescritti, il che significa che il farmaco non sarà più rimborsato.

Withdrawal of some innovative medicines

The measures that the Greek government has taken in relation to the international bailout have put a lot of pressure on the pharmaceutical companies which have threatened to withdraw some products from the market or to stop introducing new drugs.

Too many taxes on innovative drugs to stay on the market

The reason, say the pharmaceutical multinationals, is a measure that Athens recently introduced and which provides for a levy of up to 25% on the turnover generated by new patent-protected drugs. This sort of tax has been retroactively applied to all innovative medicines since January 2017. In addition to this, the Greek government decided in May 2017 to impose a 25% registration tax on new medicines.