Medication

A series of significant medical and pharmaceutical breakthroughs marked 2024. Continuing progress in the research of new drugs for chronic and serious diseases, alongside innovative medical technologies optimizing diagnosis and quality of life, 2025 brings additional scientific gifts.

Bulgaria's Acting Minister of Health, Galya Kondeva, has issued a new order extending the ban on the export of insulin and other medications used to lower blood sugar, according to the Ministry of Health.

The Competition Commission is investigating pharmaceuticals firm Novartis for anti-competitive practices from 2009 to 2017.

The probe concerns a range of competitive medicines treating macular diseases.

A report found Novartis aimed to prevent market access to competitors.

The commission will consider the report findings at a December 4 meeting. 

Returning from the holidays brings an unwelcome surprise for citizens, as starting today, Monday 8/26, significant price hikes on hundreds of medications will take effect due to recent re-pricing by the Ministry of Health.

Ozempic is not for Hollywood stars alone as demand for the drug is spreading like wildfire due to its weight-loss reputation. Greece is no exception, with demand skyrocketing since last year, especially in the run-up to summer.

Despite its high-caliber scientific personnel, Greece continues to have a low share of the clinical studies conducted in Europe.

Some 4,000 clinical studies are conducted annually, primarily for new pharmaceutical treatments in EU countries, with Greece participating in about 200 of them.

The National Organization for Medicines (EOF) issued an advisory on Thursday instructing consumers to exercise caution when purchasing food supplements online, as they may contain dangerous substances.

Specifically, EOF warned against the use of Somatomax and Ecdisten, which contain growth hormones. 

Bulgaria's Minister of Health, Prof. Hristo Hinkov, has issued a crucial order prohibiting the export of essential medications, encompassing insulin, blood sugar-lowering drugs, and antibiotics for children. The decision, effective from today, November 2, will remain in place until December 31, 2023, aiming to address the alarming shortage of life-saving medicines.

The European Health Emergency Response Authority (HERA) has issued recommendations to pharmaceutical companies to increase production of antibiotics used to treat respiratory infections ahead of winter in an effort to avoid a recurrence of shortages, especially of amoxicillin and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid.

The state financing of medicines per capita in Greece was 31% smaller compared to the average of Southern Europe and by 50% compared to Western Europe in 2021, which demonstrates that the Greek health system spends less money compared to other European countries on pharmaceutical products.