"Too much superficiality and too many interests weigh on the correct development of generic drugs in Italy". It is the indictment of the president of Assogenerici, Giorgio Foresti, presented in his opening speech at the assembly of the association of manufacturers of equivalent medicines, which met yesterday in Milan to take stock of the market and the development of the sector. Foresti cites some examples of practices that slow down the development of the sector. "Repeatedly we read insinuations about quality, safety and controls regarding generic drugs, and it is paradoxical that these accusations are made more than 35 years after their introduction on the European market and more than 10 years on the Italian one. They are instrumental statements spread artfully - he warns - and a symptom of an evident backwardness of our country compared to Europe". Among the causes of the lack of growth, Foresti recalls, in a note, the phenomenon of the shifting of prescriptions from the expiring patent product to those still covered within the same therapeutic class. "And how can we fail to mention – he adds – the lack of a clear direction towards prescribing for active ingredients, at the time of discharge from hospital? These shortcomings, and others still in the drug system – argues the leader of Assogenerici – deprive Italy of a great opportunity to innovate its National Health Service. , biotechnological drugs and more to make up the cost ceilings. Structural interventions that allow the definitive take-off of generics and the consolidation of a pharmaceutical market, already heavily penalized in the past by drastic and unilateral cost containment maneuvers, cannot be postponed any longer". Doctornews 10-07-08
