Greece is becoming a hub for drug research and production in the wider region of Southeast Europe thanks to a €1.2 billion investment made by the Greek pharmaceutical industry over four years. This is what Dimitris Demos, Vice President of the Panhellenic Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry and Managing Director of Demo, points out in an interview with K, emphasizing that their completion will increase the potential of the Greek pharmaceutical industry.

– Undoubtedly, innovation is the driving force of the pharmaceutical industry. However, the high cost of new medicines, coupled with ever-increasing patient demand, forces a balance to be struck between introducing real, meaningful innovation with evaluating the benefits of new treatments and reimbursing new medicines based on maximum patient benefit. First-line treatment accessible to all: a difficult task in the face of suffocating budgets, but a requirement of all health systems. Greece has the highest consumption of new expensive medicines in the EU, and at the same time the lowest use of cheap generics. This should worry us, because after a decade of reforms in pharmaceutical policy, the uncontrolled, often unjustified substitution of cost-effective drugs with newer, more expensive drugs remains the most important problem in pharmaceutical policy, as it leads to a constant increase in costs. , burdening the industry – due to the return of money – but also the patients. The key factors supporting this situation are the lag in the application of rules and controls in prescribing and the lack of tools to detect unauthorized drug use. For example, Greece until recently was the last in the EU. when using the electronic prescription system. Admittedly, significant progress has been made in recent years, but I believe that the development of an individual electronic file and the modernization of the digital infrastructure of the pharmaceutical care system should be a top priority.

– The Greek pharmaceutical industry is investing in both production and research to strengthen its sustainability and competitiveness. Of the 53 approved investment projects, 40 relate to research and development projects and 13 investments in production or research infrastructure. This is an investment of 520 million euros, 85% of which concerns Greek companies that are part of the wider planning of the Greek pharmaceutical industry, totaling 1.2 billion euros over four years. They include the modernization of existing production facilities, the establishment of twelve new factories, the development of 29 new production units and 17 new research departments. Their completion will change the face of the Greek pharmaceutical industry internationally and improve its capabilities through the development of biological therapies, production of active substances, focus on new innovative pharmaceutical forms and devices. Thus, the conditions are being formed for the transformation of our country into a center for research and production of medicines in the wider region of South-Eastern Europe.

Conditions are being formed for the transformation of our country into a center for research and production of medicines.

At the same time, the sector is developing with multiplier benefits for the Greek economy and citizens, as it creates added value that stays and is reinvested in the country, as well as permanent, specialized and well-paid jobs that provide opportunities for the country’s scientific research. personnel, turning the brain drain.

“Budget growth remains a major requirement for the pharmaceutical industry as a whole, as budgeting for pharmaceuticals despite ever-increasing patient needs creates a suffocating environment that undermines the marketability and viability of many products. But by itself it is not enough. At the same time, rationalization is needed, since a significant part of the increase in drug costs is associated with a lack of rules and significant control over prescribing, which leads to unreasonably high replacement rates of old, cheaper drugs with newer, more expensive ones. drugs.

New measures, such as a separate budget for the Public Health Service, additional rebates, make the burden-sharing of the pharmaceutical industry more equitable, but do not structurally solve the problem of increased costs. That is why it is necessary to complete the digitalization of the pharmaceutical care system, the interconnection of information that is currently scattered in different databases, and the introduction of electronic prescription in hospitals. This will allow efficient use of protocols, accelerate negotiations for significant savings, detect and correct inconsistencies in real time. However, we are on the right track with the interventions that are already included in the RDF program, and they create the conditions for rationalization of drug costs and the formation of a stable framework for the pharmaceutical market.

– The creation of a research, development and production infrastructure for raw materials in Europe is not only possible, but also necessary. The pandemic has highlighted the vulnerability of a situation rooted in the almost universal dependence of European states on third countries, which has led to a significant shortage of hospital drugs. The new European health and medicines policy focuses on the crucial issue of the sufficiency of finished medicines and raw materials in Europe to ensure access to quality health care for all. The Greek pharmaceutical industry can play a leading role in this joint European effort. We are already investing in the development and production of raw materials in our country, laying the foundation for placing Greece at the center of European pharmaceutical production.

Expenses

– Indeed, the problem of rising energy prices concerns the Greek pharmaceutical industry. It is known that there are stages of the production process characterized by particularly high energy consumption. According to our initial estimates, the average increase in production costs due to rising energy and natural gas prices is between 100% and 150%, depending on the pharmaceutical form of the products and the production line. Unfortunately, the problem lies not only in energy costs, but also in the cost of raw materials and auxiliary materials, the cost of packaging materials, transportation costs, etc. This development, combined with price fixing due to the ban on increases, and the excessive discounts and returns that Greek-made medicines are burdened with, threaten the viability of a number of economic products. but which are necessary for the treatment of the sick. We informed the ministry in time about this particular problem and we believe that solutions will be found so that we do not have to enter into the logic of reducing or reducing production. As far as the pharma investment plan is concerned, I believe the biggest threat is the data that is unique to Europe and the extremely high rebates and returns that the industry is burdened with. This huge burden distorts prices, deprives resources that would otherwise be invested in development and therefore undermines the international competitiveness of the Greek pharmaceutical industry. Finally, it is important to realize that this situation is the result of a clear underfunding of public spending on medicines, which in turn leads to disastrous results.