Adonis Georgiades presents the new Innovation Fund, the changes to pharmaceutical policy and measures for patient access to new treatments.
Significant interventions in public health, pharmaceutical expenditure and patient access to innovative treatments are brought by the new bill approved by a majority of the Social Affairs Committee, with Health Minister Adonis Georgiades talking about a new architecture for the management of pharmaceuticals in Greece. The plan provides for the establishment of an Innovation Fund to finance expensive new treatments, changes in the way medicines are controlled and reimbursed, strengthening of the EESY with 1,131 permanent recruitments of doctors, new incentives for arid and island regions, but also interventions to ban chemical cannabis products. The minister asserted that the aim is to ensure that no patient is left without access to the medicine they need, despite the continuous increase in the cost of innovative treatments and the great pressure on the pharmaceutical budget that is.
The draft law “Establishment of an Innovation Fund – Patient access to new medicines and therapies – Improvement of health services and other provisions” was voted by a majority on the authority of the Social Affairs Committee.
The bill
The New Democracy Party (ND) was in favour of the bill. KKE and Pleisi Eleftherias voted against it, while PASOK-KINAL, SYRIZA, Nea Aristera, Hellenic Solution and Niki reserved their positions in the plenary session.
Health Minister Adonis Georgiades, concluding the session of the stakeholders’ hearing, noted that there were very positive comments on the bill. Referring to the representatives of the patients’ associations, he said that indeed these issues they raise are not unreasonable but it is not always easy decisions that a health minister can take in the current circumstances we live in. This bill, he added, tries to reconcile two facts, the limited budget we have and the increased needs for new treatments that multiply the cost of expenditure. He pointed out that there will not be a lack of access to new drugs as a number of exceptions have been put in place to prevent this from happening to a patient who should receive it when the doctor deems it necessary regardless of the country of origin. We are creating a new architecture to handle pharmaceutical expenditure in a fairer way for all patients, so that no one is left without the medicine they should receive. Decisions are being transferred to advisory committees because they should be taken by them, by competent people, not by the Minister. In the last seven years the pharmaceutical budget has increased by between EUR 500 and 600 million, but it is certainly not enough, and no matter how much it is increased, it will never be enough in relation to the growth that new treatments and new medicines are having. A few years ago 10 to 12 new drugs were coming out annually, now because of the progress we have 50 new drugs and in three to five years it is estimated that we will have production of 200 new formulations.
The minister, concluding and the discussion on the articles of the bill on the reports of MPs, asked “to focus on the serious existing problems that exist in the field of innovative medicines. He clarified that domestic drug production is not in any crisis, since the introduction of the investment claw back 30 new factories have been created, we are in the largest production boom of the Greek pharmaceutical industry in recent decades. Today the Greek pharmaceutical production covers 12% of the European market’s drug consumption. But he observed that domestic production has unfortunately not yet reached the level of production of innovative drugs, as these require huge investments of billions, so Greek production is about generic drugs and not innovative drugs.”
The claw back
The claw back, he said, “was the law that he himself introduced as Health Minister and in the 15 years since then it has deprived billions from the pharmaceutical manufacturers for the benefit of the public sector as it is a closed budget. Reducing the claw back will mean more money being paid to the pharmaceutical industry. Public funding for pharmaceutical expenditure in the country is slightly higher than the European average. We do not give less than other countries. All the big foreign pharmaceutical companies in Greece are all making a profit none of them are making a loss. The reason why the claw back in our country is higher than in other countries – and here they are right – is because we give medicines to more patients and more easily, unlike other countries where they are not given to groups of patients completely free of charge. And this political philosophy of ‘open access’ is right and we defend it,” he said.
Georgiadis also stressed that “the Innovation Fund is a mechanism that will shield the country to bear the high cost of the new drugs that will be produced in the coming years and at the same time we are putting a transparent check on whether a formulation has the results in favour of patients that it promises. Here in the bill we are setting up the framework and the structure. There are many safeguards to ensure that no patient is deprived of the medicine they need. We are establishing the framework so that we can produce immunotherapies in Greek public hospitals, instead of paying pharmaceutical companies.”
About chemical cannabis
About the ban on the sale of chemical cannabis products from kiosks, he said that since we have a record of cases of addiction, it is a matter of public health that cannot leave us indifferent and do nothing. He clarified that medicinal cannabis, is a drug that is prescribed on a two-line prescription because it is a narcotic substance so it is produced under a strict framework of supervision and measures. It has nothing to do with industrial hemp, one does not compete with the other. The cannabis flower that the bill puts on sale ban, the minister said, is about the fact that in order for it to become narcotic they started spraying it with industrial hemp thus building an industry that has come to make a turnover of over 50 million.
Mr Georgiades said on the staffing of the NHS that “four days ago he signed the largest ever recruitment notice for 1,131 permanent medical staff positions, after five months of preparatory work. There are a number of articles in the bill to allow for faster flexibility to be able to re-advertise positions that are left vacant. Additional incentives for doctors on islands and in arid regions are introduced. We have provisions in the bill for doctors in the TOMS. We keep advertising posts for directors in the NHS.” The minister said he would make legislative improvements in line with proposals regarding the taking of medical specialisations, which have been stuck due to controversy.
The second reading of the bill will be held in committee on Wednesday.
</html
