Medicinal chemistry

The Council of Ministers adopted legislative changes to curb the illegal parallel export of medicines, Nova TV reported.

According to them, if a drug systematically for one month is not delivered to five pharmacies, it will be banned for export.

Control will now also be electronic. An information system is being set up to track the path of medicines.

The Poison Center at the Aglaia Kyriakou Children's Hospital in Goudi, eastern Athens, the only one of its kind in the country, is sounding the alarm as, since 2012, it has been forced to operate with a staff of just six doctors and one pharmacist (from 10 and three respectively) due to budget cuts.

A man from Syria is the organizer of the scheme for illegal export of medicines abroad. He is one of the detained during the operation of the GDBOP yesterday, the BNR announced, quoted by BGNES.

The criminal group has worked with doctors from many hospitals in the country, according to data from the investigators. Among them is a director of a medical establishment.

Despite the upheaval the pharmaceutical industry in Greece has been experiencing during the economic crisis, there has been an unexpected increase in employment at pharmacies, according to the staff registered at the Pharmaceutical Employees Mutual Assistance Fund (TAYFE).

All pharmacies across the region of Attica will be closed on September 14 due to the celebration of the Eastern Orthodox Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which an official holiday for pharmacies. Citizens will be served by the on-call or overnight pharmacies, as listed by the Attica Association of Pharmacies.

Greeks are resisting efforts to promote the use of generic medicines over more costly brand-name drugs, with genomes accounting for just 25 percent of total sales today compared to 18.5 percent before the start of the crisis.

Given that creditors had set a target of 60 percent in order to curb state expenditures on medicine, Brussels is frustrated with Greece's lack of progress.

The Thessaloniki Pharmacists' Association on Monday warned of serious shortages in a number of important drugs, claiming that each pharmacy on its register sends away an average of 15 customers a day and in some cases has to wait as long as four months to fill their prescriptions.

A man living in the western province of Manisa has applied to the provincial pharmacy unit of a health directorate after cardiac drugs failed to dissolve in his body within 24 hours on suspicion of being fake, which ultimately prompted its transference to the Health Ministry for examination, Doğan News Agency has reported.

Medicines will become cheaper as of January 1, 2017 and not as previously envisioned on September 1, 2016.

The Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Union has unveiled an electronic map of pharmacies and chemist's shops in the country to help customers find their way to the nearest point of sale, bTV reported on Tuesday.