Pharmaceutical industry

The government unexpectedly tabled a law amendment in Parliament on Wednesday which provides for an increase in the prices of pharmaceutical products by up to 10 percent compared to the previous price list.

Generic drugs may be gaining ground in Greece in recent years, especially as a result of state measures to rationalize expenditure in pharmaceuticals during the bailouts, but the market penetration target has yet to be reached.

A Labor Ministry bill provides for the payment in 2019 of expired dues in the healthcare sector to suppliers and patients, albeit reduced for non-patient recipients such as pharmacists, pharmaceutical companies, various healthcare suppliers and others, and even patients who have been owed money since before their entry into the National Healthcare Service Organization (EOPYY) - i.e.

A Thessaloniki appeals court has declared a former pharmaceuticals top manager and two doctors innocent of the crimes of bribery and bribe-taking, state run news agency ANA-MPA reported on Friday.

On 4th of October, anti-mafia teams entered the Hematological Hospital "John Paul" in Sofia and "St. Mina" in Blagoevgrad because of suspicion for abuse of medicines for treatmenet of cancer patients. Investigators checked how many sick people were admiitted to the hopitals, how many medicines were administered for the day and how many were actually used.

Greek and foreign pharmaceutical companies have expressed concern over the extent of state spending on drugs this year, which means the sector's companies will have to return at least 200 million euros more to the state than last year.

US pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson was Thursday ordered to pay out $4.69 billion in damages in a lawsuit representing 22 women and their families who alleged a talc sold by the company contained asbestos and caused them to suffer cancer.

A police investigation into an international racket dealing in medicines, including expensive drugs for cancer treatment, believed to have cost the Greek state millions of euros, has shed light on the ring members' methods. 

An international racket dealing in medicines, including expensive drugs for cancer treatment, cost the Greek state at least 25 million euros, according to Greece's Financial Police, whose officers have detained more than 20 suspects including a 70-year-old Egyptian man believed to be the ringleader.

Officer of Greece's Economic Police have made 21 arrests so far in an ongoing crackdown on a racket dealing in medicines, including expensive cancer treatment drugs, on a European level.

The organization was reportedly run by four key members and comprised hospital doctors, nursing personnel, pharmacists and pharmaceutical supply companies.