Generics And Reference Pricing Row In Spain

The uneasy alliance between the Spanish Ministry of Health andConsumption and the Spanish pharmaceutical industry association Farmaindustria following the adoption of a generics policy in Spain (Marketletters passim) is under threat given their differing viewpoints on drug reference pricing, or, more specifically, the speed with which a reference pricing policy should be implemented.

In an interview with the association's trade journal, Indufarma, the president of Farmaindustria, Rafael Juste, is quick to point out that talks with both the previous Socialist government and the present Partido Popular administration "have been, and are, fruitful," but suggests that maybe the association and the government are approaching the subjects of a generics policy and reference pricing from different perspectives.

A Different Approach Mr Juste argues that the executive is excessively conditioned by the day-to-day needs of government and is more concerned with meeting its budgetary proposals "without taking into account the global picture, the development of which goes further than the daily problems."