Drug firms could feel impact of spending cuts
Pharmaceutical companies will be put under more pressure to reduce their profit margins if the government does not meet its target for slashing public spending on drugs this year, Health Minister Andreas Loverdos said on Wednesday.
Speaking to a parliamentary committee, Loverdos said that the government had planned for state-funded social security funds to save 1.1 billion euros on their drugs bill by the end of the year.
?If we see in October that we are likely to miss the 1.1-billion-euro target, we will intervene again,? said the minister. ?We will get the money one way or another.?
Greece has made substantial savings on the money the funds spend on medicines since 2009. That year, spending on drugs reached 5.1 billion euros, but in 2010 that figure was reduced by 750 million euros.
The government has reduced the outlay on drugs by, among other things, demanding greater rebates from the pharmaceutical companies.
