European pharmaceutical companies warned that they may stop producing some cheap generic drugs due to rising electricity costs and asked for the pricing of these drugs to be reviewed.
European pharmaceutical companies warned that they may stop producing some cheap generic drugs due to rising electricity costs and asked for the pricing of these drugs to be reviewed.
Medicines for Europe, which represents generic drug manufacturers such as Teva, Novartis’s Sandoz unit and Fresenius’s Kabi unit, sent an open letter to the energy and health ministers of the European Union (EU) member states yesterday.
The energy ministers of EU countries will meet on Friday to try to agree on measures to be taken to solve the energy crisis in Europe. However, these measures do not yet include solutions specifically targeting pharmaceutical companies.
GENERIC DRUGS CONSIST OF 70 PERCENT OF ALL DRUGS SOLD IN THE EU
According to the letter, electricity prices in Europe rose 10 times for some pharmaceutical factories, while raw material costs rose between 50 percent and 160 percent.
“Increasing energy costs are causing the profit margins of most manufacturers to melt completely in the fixed price system in Europe,” said Adrian Van Den Hoven, director of Medicines for Europe.
Drugs that are released to the market after the expiration of the patents that give companies the right to exclusivity in the production and sale of drugs and that have the same properties as the original drug are called generic drugs. The prices of these drugs are determined by national health institutions or insurance associations.
According to the agency’s data, generic drugs make up 70 percent of all drugs sold in the EU.
Daily Economy News 