Europe’s pharmaceutical industry on the brink of crisis.
Generic drugmakers in Europe may cut production due to rising energy costs.
European pharmaceutical companies have warned that they may stop producing some cheap generic drugs due to rising electricity costs and have called for a review of their pricing.
Medicines for Europe, which represents generic drugmakers such as Teva, Novartis’ Sandoz and Fresenius’ Kabi, sent an open letter yesterday to the energy and health ministers of European Union (EU) member states.
EU energy ministers will meet on Friday to agree on measures to address Europe’s energy crisis. However, these measures do not yet include solutions specifically targeting pharmaceutical companies.
According to the letter, electricity prices in Europe have increased 10-fold for some pharmaceutical factories, while raw material costs have risen between 50 percent and 160 percent.
“Rising energy costs are completely eroding the profit margins of most manufacturers in Europe’s fixed price system,” said Adrian Van Den Hoven, director of Medicines for Europe.
Generic medicines are those that have the same characteristics as the original medicine and are placed on the market after patents that give companies exclusivity in the production and sale of medicines have expired. Their prices are set by national health organizations or insurance associations.
According to the organization, generic medicines account for 70 percent of all medicines sold in the EU.
