Danish pharmaceutical group Leo Pharma said on Sunday it was withdrawing products from Greece after its government ordered a cut in prices, following a pullout by another drugs company.
Leo Pharma, which makes drugs for dermatological problems and critical care, said it was in dialogue with Greek authorities to find an alternative to withdrawing items from the market in Greece.
“However, given the decision of the Greek authorities to insist on introducing a price reduction of 25 percent on average, we see no other solution than to withdraw some of our products from the Greek market,” it said in a statement.
“Since Greek prices on our products are reference points for prices in a number of European countries, we risk that prices in eg Spain, Portugal, Italy, Romania, Turkey, Czech, Hungary, etc will also be subject to severe reductions if we do not act,” it said.
The company said a price reduction on its products of up to 37 percent would have severe consequences for its business.
On Saturday, Danish pharmaceutical Novo Nordisk, the world’s largest producer of insulin to treat diabetes, said it would not lower the price on 17 types of new generation insulin medication, which would render them unavailable in Greece.
It also quoted financial reasons, saying its operations in Greece would become loss-making if it complied with the cut.
Greece has accumulated debt of nearly 300 billion euros (US$369 billion) and was narrowly saved from default last month by the first installment of an 110 billion-euro bailout loan from the EU and the IMF.
The government had to adopt unpopular austerity measures to clinch the loan, including tax hikes, wage and pension cuts and a hiring freeze in the civil service. It has also pledged to trim massive waste in state hospitals, which have a combined debt of about 5.6 billion euros.
Novo Nordisk said it had about 30 million euros in unpaid invoices in Greece. The Greek debt to Leo Pharma was approximately 37 million euros, the company said.
Novo Nordisk spokesman Mike Rulis said the decision to pull the 17 types of medication from the Greek market was not related to the outstanding invoices.
“Our decision here is entirely based on the fact that we have been subjected to this immediate 25 percent reduction of prices on products, which are already priced at a very low level in Greece,” he said.
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