Greek debt hits pharma deliveries
pharmafile | June 29, 2011 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Greece
The debt crisis afflicting Greece is starting to affect the country’s hospitals as pharma companies refuse to deliver drugs.
Roche has stopped delivering medicines to public hospitals which have not paid their bills and other disgruntled companies have threatened to take similar measures.
From September 1 last year, Roche Hellas halted deliveries of medicines to those hospitals that have not paid outstanding invoices, a Roche spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal.
Since July last year, Roche Hellas has “repeatedly informed” all public hospitals and Greek authorities about the “significantly delayed payments … which are not compliant with Greek and EU legislation”.
“Deliveries to wholesalers, private clinics, private pharmacies and public hospitals which have settled their outstanding invoices continue normally,” she added.
And the company has pledged to continue making available life-saving drugs regardless of arrears.
The paper reports that the Greek government began paying hospital suppliers in government bonds last year – bonds whose ultimate value is suspect as the spectre of a debt default looms.
“This is a major issue,” Nycomed chief executive Hakan Bjoerklund told Dow Jones Newswires. “In reality, this means we’re not getting all of the money they owe us.”
“If the situation gets totally out of hand and we don’t think we will get paid in the end, we simply cannot continue to deliver products.”
In a letter to the Greek government last month, the Hellenic Association of Pharmaceutical Companies (SFEE) voiced its concern about the money its members were owed by Greek hospitals.
Arrears for the period from 1 January 2010 to the end of March this year represent 80% of products purchased, the Wall Street Journal reported.
“In the first quarter of 2011, hospitals and pharmacies purchased medicinal products worth about 70 million euros, of which only 332 euros have been paid! That is not a typing error,” the SFEE letter said.
The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations said it had been told Greek debts from last year would be settled this month.
A 48-hour general strike is underway in Greece, a mass protest ahead of a parliamentary vote on the government’s £25 billion austerity package.
If the vote goes against the government, the economic situation could become even more parlous with the European Union and International Monetary Fund withholding billions of euros in loans.
A year ago the Greek government cut drug prices, initially by a quarter, to help bring down healthcare costs – a move which prompted Danish firms Novo Nordisk and Leo Pharma to pull some drugs from the market.
Adam Hill
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