Woes of Spanish Pharma aired at general assembly

Spanish pharma trade group Farmaindustria held its general assembly this week at which its president, Jordi Ramentol, stressed the fact that the Spanish economy is now experiencing one of its most critical periods over the last few decades, and that this is also impacting on the country’s drugmakers.

He went on to say that public accounts relating to the sector have reached an extremely delicate situation, which has caused a shift in the main focus of political and economic action to tackle public deficit; thus making it an absolute priority for both the national and the regional governments. “This is why such sensitive items on the public budget like education or health, have been reduced,” he noted.

However, Mr Ramentol regretted that the main weight of the already adopted decisions to reduce public health care deficit keeps on affecting medicines. He went on to explain that during the last 24 months, four Royal Decree Laws have been approved (4 y 8/2010, 9/2011 y 16/2012), which have provoked hefty impacts on companies and have caused continual falls in pharmaceutical public expenditure since June 2010; that particular year ended with a decrease of 2.4%, 2011 ended with a 8.8% decline, and 2012 is expected to close with a figure between 15% and 20% lower.