Greece’s Locally Made Drugs May Offer Cure for Excess Spending
- System now supports overpriced drugs, industry body head says
- Local production could cover 60 percent of citizens’ needs
A neon sign sits on display at the entrance to a pharmacy drugstore in Athens, Greece, on Thursday, July 16, 2015. While Greek lawmakers have now passed reform measures demanded by creditors in return for negotiating a third bailout package, that may not yet be enough for the ECB to change its stance.
Photographer: Matthew Lloyd/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Greeks spend too much on foreign-made medicines, and the country’s pharmaceutical industry is offering to help.
Drug makers based in the crisis-hit country, whose creditors have called for slashing spending on pharmaceuticals, can produce enough to cover at least 60 percent of local prescription-drug needs, compared with about 23 percent at the moment, said Theodoros Tryfon, president of the Pan-Hellenic Union of Pharmaceutical Industry.