Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis pledged his government’s backing for pharmaceutical innovation, speaking during a meeting with delegates from 20 leading global pharmaceutical companies and five international pharmaceutical industry associations this week.
During the meeting, Pfizer chairman and CEO Albert Bourla, who is also the president of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), highlighted the industry’s opposition to the new European reform, which seeks to limit the data protection period for drug patents and comes at a time when developments in biotechnology could herald significant investments.
Mitsotakis emphasized the potential collaborations between pharmaceutical companies and Greece, expressing his intention for possible interventions at the EU level. He also stressed the importance of necessary predictability to encourage pharmaceutical investments in the country for the development of new innovative drugs.
Representatives of international pharmaceutical companies acknowledged Greece’s emergence from economic downturn as an advantage. However, they linked the industry’s investments to the overall operational environment for pharmaceuticals in the country.
Focusing on investments for clinical trials, they called for flexible legislation that would remove current bureaucratic hurdles, as well as a regulatory framework to facilitate clinical research.
Additionally, the issue of patient access to innovative drugs and the pricing of medications at prices that reward innovation was raised.
