These include removing caps on how much makers of large and small originator drugs can charge.
Spain is the only EU company which makes originator companies charge the same price for their off-patent medicines as rivals’ generics.
“This policy is detrimental to the long-term ability of the generic medicines industry to increase patients’ access and provide savings to Spanish payers, as it removes all incentives for physicians to prescribe, pharmacists to dispense or patients to ask for a generic medicine,” said the EGA.
Jobs
The organization claimed the Spanish pharmaceutical industry could create thousands of jobs if it introduces price differentiation between original and generic medicines, or between reference biologics and biosimilars, waives the SPC system in manufacturing, and changes the procurement system in Andalusia.
Imports to the southern Spanish region are subject to delays and shortages, said the EGA, threatening “the viability of European and Spanish manufacturers and reduces the ability to develop and bring new generic medicines to market.”
The EGA predicted 75-80% of EU medicines in the EU will be biosimilars or generics by 2020, “therefore it makes sense to increase the production in Europe as opposed to non-EU countries.”
The director-general of the AESEG, Angel Luis Rodriguez de la Cuerda, added, “Seven out of ten generic medicines in Spain are manufactured in Spain. Healthy generic competition in the Spanish market will provide additional value and jobs in Spain.”
Speaking about the SPC waiver, de la Cuerda added, “We call on the Spanish Government to support this job-creating measure in the EU.”