IF Cantabria Starts Polemic On Prices In Spain

A small Spanish drug manufacturer, IF Cantabria, has decided to break away from agreements on maintaining drug prices and has cut the price of its antiulcerant Omepreton (omeprazole) by 36%. Furthermore, the packets of the drug contain 28 tablets, double the amount sold by most other drug manufacturers.

The firm's director general, Juan Matji, told the Spanish newspaper, Cinco Dias, that the only way small companies can compete with the larger companies is through prices. He is strongly against the industry association Farmaindustria's policy on prices and has left the organization, saying that he did not feel that he was represented by the association.

He said that the executive board of Farmaindustria represents the views of the larger companies and that the agreement it reached with the Spanish government to limit growth of the industry (Marketletters passim) will kill his business, which has only been in existence for two years.