My blog is almost always in Greek. This time though, I will write in English because I want my audience to be international. Well, if you wonder why Greece is bankrupt, I think that here you are going to read an important part of the answer:
A short presentation of myself first: My name is Argirios Argiriou. I have studied Medicine in Lund, Sweden and I
specialized in General Practice in Linkoping Sweden. Since 2005 I work as a
private General Practitioner in my hometown Kavala, Greece. I still work
though, as a locum doctor in Sweden for some weeks every year, and that helps
me to keep in touch with both the Greek and the Swedish clinical reality.
The last time I worked as a locum in Sweden was in Amal ( www.amal.se ) which is a municipality with 9000 inhabitants and only one pharmacy
while me birthplace in Greece, Hrisoupolis, (http://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A7%CF%81%CF%85%CF%83%CE%BF%CF%8D%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%B7_%CE%9A%CE%B1%CE%B2%CE%AC%CE%BB%CE%B1%CF%82 ) with about the same population as Amal, has 10
pharmacies.
On June the 29th, 2014 I did a price comparison between seven different generics in Greece and Sweden.
I got the prices ( Retail Prices ) of the Swedish generics from the online National Formulary of Sweden www.fass.se ( You can see them, all the way down on the pages that open from the following Swedish links. Wherever you see the symbol - means integer in Swedish kronor. For example 52 - means 52 kronor . Unlike the : means that it will follow a decimal number eg 54:50 means 54.5 kronor ) .
I got the prices (also Retail Prices ) of the Greek generics from the site www.galinos.gr which is a private but well updated site that a lot of Greek Doctors use in order to find out the prices of the medicines that they prescribe.
On 29 June 2014, 100 Swedish Crones (SEK) = 10,88 Euro .
For medicines for chronic diseases, such as the following medicines, the
packaging is usually 28 or 30 tablets/box in Greece, while in Sweden the
packaging is usually of 98 or 100 tablets/box.
Since a similar comparison that I did in September 2013 the Greek
medicines are a little bit cheaper but still much more expensive than the
Swedish ones:
Omeprazole.
In Sweden the Caps. Omeprazole Teva 20 mg x 98 (i.e. a box with 98 capsules of Omeprazole Teva 20 mg), costs 59 SEK = 6,4 Euro
Omeprazole.
In Sweden the Caps. Omeprazole Teva 20 mg x 98 (i.e. a box with 98 capsules of Omeprazole Teva 20 mg), costs 59 SEK = 6,4 Euro
when
In Greece the Caps. Penrazol 20 mg x 28 costs 13 Euro
Ie the generic Omeprazole is 610 % more expensive in Greece than in Sweden.
Simvastatin.
In Sweden Tabl. Simvastatin Krka 40 mg x 100 costing 69.5 SEK = 7,56 Euro
http://www.fass.se/LIF/product?userType=0&nplId=20041018000310
when
In Greece the Tabl. Extrastatin 40 mg x 30 costs 18,05 euros
Ie the generic Simvastatin is 695 % more expensive in Greece than in Sweden.
Atorvastatin
In Sweden Tabl. Atorvastatin Bluefish 20 mg x 100 costs 58 SEK = 6,31 Euro
http://www.fass.se/LIF/product?userType=0&nplId=20091210000151
when
In Greece the Tabl. Atorstat 20 mg x 30 costs 14,90 Euro
http://www.galinos.gr/web/drugs/main/packages/10934#content
Ie the generic Atorvastatin is 687 % more expensive in Greece than in Sweden.
Finasteride
In Sweden Tabl. Finasterid Teva 5 mg x 100 costs 92 SEK = 10,00 Euro
when
In Greece the Tabl. Finastir 5 mg x 30 costs 12 euros
http://www.galinos.gr/web/drugs/main/packages/12185#content
Ie generic Finasteride is 300 % more expensive in Greece than in Sweden
Risperidone
In Sweden Tabl. Risperidon Teva 1 mg x 60 costs 59 SEK = 6,41 Euro
when
In Greece the Tabl. Rispelen 1 mg x 20 costs 7,01 Euro
Ie generic Risperidone is 228 % more expensive in Greece than in Sweden.
Olanzapine
In Sweden Tabl. Olanzapine Teva 10 mg x 56 costing 61,50 SEK = 6,69 Euro.
when
In Greece the Tabl.Villamos 10 mg x 28 cost 41,05 Euros.
http://www.galinos.gr/web/drugs/main/packages/19008#content
Ie generic Olanzapine is 1127 % more expensive in Greece than in Sweden.
Citalopram
In Sweden Tabl. Citalopram Sandoz 20 mg x 100 costing 57 SEK = 6,2 Euro.
when
In Greece the Tabl. Seror 20 mg x 28 cost 9,92 Euros.
http://www.galinos.gr/web/drugs/main/packages/15120#content
Ie generic Citalopram is 471 % more expensive in Greece than in Sweden.
Even generics that are produced in Greece, can be found with a reduced
price in Sweden: For example, a generic named "Rolenium 50/500"
(produced in Greece by ELPEN http://www.elpen.gr) that costs 48.3€ in Greece,
is imported to Sweden by "Bluefish Pharma" under the name Relanio and
has price: 46.2€ (424.5 SEK). In this image:
http://www.relanio.se/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Forpackning-framifran.png
at the left down side you can see the ELPEN's brandname.
http://www.fass.se/LIF/product?userType=0&nplId=20100423000091
Does the Greek Government really want to reduce the
cost of pharmaceutical expenditure in Greece ?
Then why don’t they reduce the price of generic drugs at Swedish levels?
Postscript : The fact that the prices of generics are held so high, flares on the over-prescribing of medicines by some corrupt doctors. (The larger the super-profits the larger the kickbacks to the Doctors ..)
Then why don’t they reduce the price of generic drugs at Swedish levels?
Postscript : The fact that the prices of generics are held so high, flares on the over-prescribing of medicines by some corrupt doctors. (The larger the super-profits the larger the kickbacks to the Doctors ..)
