Time to 'turn the page,' says Greek pharma trade group SFEE

The Hellenic Association of Pharmaceutical Companies (SFEE) hosted its annual New Year’s reception last week, at which its president, Olympios Papadimitriou, outlined some of the progress made in the past year.

Mr Papadimitriou on the achievements of 2019: “Firstly, the legislative framework for medicinal pricing and chargeback was clearly defined, and the chargeback was completed after a significant delay. A special budget line item to offset investments made by pharmaceutical companies, either in research and development or in production, against clawbacks allocated to them was announced by the Prime Minister himself.

“This acknowledges the aspect of our sector’s contribution to growth while offering a workaround for the reduction of clawbacks. The VAT rate on medicines was aligned at 6%, effectively removing a pointless burden from the pharmaceutical expenditure, which is close to 30 million euros [$33 million].