Two Danish drugmakers - Novo Nordisk and LEO Pharma - say 'no' to Greek price cuts order

As part of draconian measures to reduce its debt, the Greek government has ordered that the prices of pharmaceutical products, both branded and generics, be slashed by some 25% - effective early last month (The Pharma Letter May 6), but two companies. Denmark's Novo Nordisk (the world's largest insulin supplier) and privately-held LEO Pharma have said they will not comply, arguing that such reductions would be economically unviable and risk repercussions in other markets.

Drug prices are in the firing line in other countries as European governments ' including recently Spain, which ordered price cuts of up to 23% (TPL May 17) - tackle runaway budget deficits, leading to fears among drugmakers worried that they could be forced into similar cuts in other markets, as well as seeing parallel importing becoming a bigger problem, with traders buying in the cheapest countries to sell drugs in those where they are more expensive, thus making a profit for themselves.

Novo Nordisk spokesman Mike Rulis explained to TPL that the company was informed on April 29 of a governmental decree requesting it to lower prices by around 25%, effective May 3. 'Our prices in Greece are already among the lowest in Europe, and a 25% reduction would bring prices in Greece way below what other European countries are paying. And as prices in Greece are used as reference price by other countries both inside and outside Europe, this reduction in Greece would trigger similar reductions in these countries, which would have serious financial consequences,' he said.