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Announcement

EIllegal medicine smuggling ring apprehended:
SFEE ready to aid all efforts to safeguard normal, uninterrupted access to medicines for patients

Athens, 08.05.2018.- With a keen awareness of patients’ concern and of its responsibility to them, the Hellenic Association of Pharmaceutical Companies (SFEE) welcomes the identification and uncovering of every source of waste or abuse of medicinal products that adversely affects public funds, but mainly the health of citizens, as they are deprived of medicines essential to their survival. It is especially important that the operation and management of the supply chain take place within the prescribed local and European legislative framework.

At a time when public sector resources are scarce, when providing healthcare to citizens requires struggle and sacrifice, when public spending on medicines is not enough to meet citizens’ needs, when the government’s social/medicinal policy is being subsidised by pharmaceutical companies through payment of onerous rebates of over €1.2 billion, any profiteering related to medicines must be stamped out and the use of available resources maximised. Phenomena that encumber the public health system and result in losses for pharmaceutical companies must be eliminated.

As the institutional representative of its Greek and international corporate members, SFEE staunchly supports and will continue to support every effort to consolidate and rationalise the use of medicines to ensure normal and uninterrupted access to medicines for patients. To that end, it is essential that the State’s efforts in this area be intensified in order to hasten the introduction of structural changes, such as: regular controls throughout the medicinal supply chain; the proper parametrisation of e-prescribing; application of treatment protocols; upgraded IT facilities at hospitals and other State health-related organisations; electronic patient records; and patient registries.

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