Greece: Pharmaceutical pricing goes up in smoke

The system for the approval of pharmaceutical prices in Greece, as introduced by an amendment to the draft bill recently voted into Law 4600/2019 (Government Gazette 1508/06.05.2019), is a fair pricing system based on the average of the two lowest prices in the euro area, noted a web posting by the local pharma trade group.

The Hellenic Association of Pharmaceutical Companies (SFEE) said it expected this new system to address a number of distortions in pricing and create a stable and predictable reference pricing framework, thereby preventing the risk of supply shortages and withdrawal from the Greek market of medicines of recognized therapeutic value.

Much to its surprise, however, it turns out that the political leadership of the Ministry of Health, in elaborating the new re-pricing model, has made interpretative improvisations, thereby predicting different prices of medicinal products from those stipulated by the Law!