The Hellenic Association of Pharmaceutical Companies (SFEE) and the PhARMA Innovation Forum (PIF) have expressed their deep concern over the critical situation facing the hospital drug reimbursement system in Greece, as highlighted in their statement. Data from the first half of 2025 reveal an unprecedented situation: the clawback on hospital medicines reached 80.7%, marking a further increase compared to the first half of 2024.
This negative development stands in contrast to earlier government commitments to gradually reduce this mechanism, which had raised expectations in line with the country’s broader economic growth.
On the contrary, the ongoing deterioration sends a clear message regarding the need for immediate joint action by the state and the sector, with the aim of implementing substantive reforms, as the reforms implemented to date have not yielded the expected results, the statement emphasizes.
It is clear that a mechanism created as an emergency measure during the years of the economic crisis—a period that Greece has definitively left behind—must now be limited to truly sustainable levels.
This development confirms that the long-standing imbalances in the financing of hospital pharmaceutical expenditure have now turned into a structural crisis. SFEE and PIF, recognizing the challenges, aim to stand alongside the government to accelerate the necessary reforms and ensure the rational allocation of available resources, so as to guarantee patients’ access to innovative therapies and the sustainability of their companies.
Kavita Patel, Chair of the PhARMA Innovation Forum and Managing Director of Roche Greece and Cyprus, stated: “80.7% is a particularly alarming figure for pharmaceutical innovation in Greece. In practical terms, it means that for every 10 innovative medicines needed by Greek patients for serious, chronic, or life-threatening diseases, the state covers fewer than two, passing on the entire cost to the companies that invest in and provide innovative treatments.
And this is happening in a country characterized by the lowest drug prices in Europe. Data from the first half of 2025 clearly confirm the assessments that the PIF had made in a timely manner in the previous period regarding the unsustainability of the current situation. Our concerns are clearly reflected in the data and highlight the need for immediate and substantive action.”
For his part, Olympios Papadimitriou, president of the Hellenic Association of Pharmaceutical Companies (SFEE) and general manager of Novo Nordisk Greece and Cyprus, stated: “The government’s reluctance to make even the slightest commitment regarding the trajectory of pharmaceutical spending, even in hospitals, in an environment entirely under its control, leads with mathematical certainty to the deprivation of future treatments for Greek patients and simultaneously highlights the complacency that characterizes the authorities regarding the effectiveness—or lack thereof—of any measure taken to contain spending.
This approach is truly a pan-European, if not global, first. Pharmaceutical companies contribute more than the state to citizens’ access to pharmaceutical care. We call on the government to engage in a sincere and constructive dialogue to ensure a framework that operates fairly, effectively, and for the benefit of patients.”
SFEE and PIF state that addressing the problem requires genuine cooperation between the government and the pharmaceutical sector. In a spirit of cooperation, we extend an open invitation to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance for an immediate, institutional meeting and a substantive, candid dialogue, with the aim of jointly shaping a sustainable, predictable, and fair pharmaceutical expenditure system. We believe that only through a joint effort can solutions be implemented that will meet the needs of patients and the capabilities of the healthcare system.