With the President of the Panhellenic Union Pharmaceutical industry (PEF) Theodoros Tryfon, with the President of the Pharmaceutical Companies Association of Greece (SFEE) Olympio Papadimitriou, the President of the PhARMA Innovation Forum Greece (PIF) Lambrina Barbetakis and the Secretary General of the Association of Representatives of Pharmaceutical Products and Specialties (SFEE) Giorgos Papazoglou met on Thursday Minister of Health Adonis Georgiades.
The meeting was also attended by Minister of State Akis Skertsos, Deputy Minister of Health Irini Agapidakis, Deputy Minister of Health Marios Themistokleous of Strategic Planning Aris Aggelis and director of EOPYY Theano Karpodini.
![Georgiadis: Medicine shortage situation will constantly improve 1 Farmako1 e1719500902897](https://thegurumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Farmako1-e1719500902897.jpg)
After the meeting, the minister Adonis Georgiades spoke of “a historic day for the Ministry of Health, as for the first time in the presence of the entire pharmaceutical industry we presented the results of expenses for the first five months, the measures we took to control revenues, forecasts for the development of 2024, actively contributing to persuading companies to contribute to the good supply of the pharmaceutical market, so that patients can find their medicines and we do not have permanent shortages.
I am very proud of what we have done in these five months, because the great progress has been recognized by everyone. This practically means that the medicine shortage situation will continue to improve from now on.
The Ministry of Health’s goal is for every patient in Greece to find their medicine. If we don’t take all these measures we are taking, within a short time no one will find their medicine because the budget cannot support it. With the measures we are taking, and this is now recognized by everyone, we will ensure, in the long term, that every patient can find the medicine they need.”
In turn, the Minister of State Akis Schertsos He noted that “for our government, the consolidation of transparency, predictability and fairness in our country’s pharmaceutical policy and spending is a fundamental priority. The policy we have implemented follows a basic principle in favor of policyholders: we want to have the right medicine for each disease at the best price, with conditions of competition and healthy development of the Greek and foreign pharmaceutical industry.
In this context, the leadership of the Ministry deserves congratulations. da Saúde and Adonis Georgiadis for the implementation of a timeless request with the delivery of the new EOPYY digital platform in collaboration with all pharmaceutical associations, so that we can monitor prescriptions by medicine and company in almost real time and by extension the variation in reimbursements recovery to the Greek government. This platform offers transparency and predictability and can guarantee a more orderly functioning of the drug market for the benefit of citizens. It adds to a series of other digital tools that improve the decision-making process through the analysis of real and objective market data.”
In turn, the president of the Panhellenic Pharmaceutical Industry Union (PEF) Teodoro Trifão stated that “it is very positive to hold meetings in a transparent way, to enter the data. What we ask for, as a sector that has thousands of jobs and that covers more than 60% of insured Greeks with low-quality medicines, is that there is predictability. We are, therefore, discussing with the ministry the possibility of a three-year programmatic agreement to know with what data we can cover Greek citizens with internally produced medicines. In this context, it is clear that very high reimbursements, especially for old medicines, must be rationalized, so that we can continue investments and jobs and, above all, coverage of Greeks”.
The President of the Association of Pharmaceutical Companies of Greece (SFEE) Olympios Papadimitriou spoke of “a productive meeting with the ministry’s staff and other institutional bodies in the health sector. Essentially, on the one hand, measures were announced aimed at controlling demand and “controlling” it, on the other hand, All of us have the idea that there is a clear demand for more transparency in terms of information from the industry regarding the evolution of spending. All of this is very important and points in the right direction. The point is that they should be accompanied by the corresponding results, which I believe. that we will have at our disposal at the end of the year, because now it is still relatively early.”
The President of the Board of Directors of PhARMA Innovation Forum Greece (PIF) Lambrina Barbetakis emphasized that “all the ministry’s efforts, both to rationalize expenses and to find financing solutions for pharmaceutical innovation, will always be in agreement, as well as the intention, and we saw this today, of sharing and analyzing together the pharmaceutical market data.
However, we remain firm in our conviction, which we discussed and agreed with the Minister of Health, of concluding a cooperation pact with a three-year horizon so as not to end up with fragmented solutions with measures that will last for a short period of time. term horizon, but look together at the opportunities for development and sustainability of pharmaceutical innovation”.
Finally, the general secretary of the Association of Representatives of Pharmaceutical Products and Specialties (SAFEE) George Papazoglou stated that “the Minister of Health, Adonis Georgiadis, informed us about the evolution of pharmaceutical expenditure, but also about the actions he intends to take in 2025 to achieve greater control. We sincerely thank the minister and remain always helpful to the project.”