Generic penetration lower in Spain than official figures show - industry association

3/02//2014. Spain's generics trade body has disputed government figures saying 45% of drugs prescribed in the country's publicly funded system are generics, claiming the real figure is around 36% after adjustment for privately-funded prescriptions.

Spanish generic manufacturers' association AESEG says the discrepancy in the Spanish health ministry's figures is down to "misleading" interpretation of the data.

Ángel Luis Rodríguez de la Cuerda, director of AESEG, told APM in a phone interview on Friday the figure is not adjusted for generics out of public funding.

With a number of generic drugs being prescribed by privately funded doctors out of the public system and purchased by patients without any copayment, the real figure is "still far from EU figures".

The Spanish ministry said on Thursday that, for the first time in years, Spain's generics are getting close EU figures, where market penetration is 55%.

De la Cuerda said Spanish figures are way below those in Europe where generics represent around 60% by volume of the drug market.

Meeting at the ministry

AESEG highlighted the disparity in the same week De la Cuerda met with health minister Ana Mato.

AESEG representatives told Mato generics are a key industry in the country, with four out of the five top drug firms being generics, namely Cinfa, Teva, Normon and Kern Pharma.

He noted that the only foreign company of those four, Teva, has a manufacturing plant in Spain, so they are extremely important in terms of jobs creation.

He told APM Mato acknowledged his arguments and said it is the ministry's intention to boost use across Spain, but she would not say how.

AESEG representatives demanded more attention on regions' interpretation of ministry's generic regulation. De la Cuerda said: "Even though in Spain the law says that when prices of generics and branded drugs are equal community pharmacists should give patients the generic version, each autonomous region is in fact acting differently in this regard, and it is the ministry's duty to make regions strictly observe Spanish law".

Pricing concerns

AESEG also complained about the lack of established pricing conditions for generics versus branded drugs, which damages generics, "because they should always be the cheaper option".

De la Cuerda also told the minister that the "EFG" label identifying generics should be exclusive to copycat drugs. Under current Spanish regulation, branded drugs which lose patent protection can automatically change their packaging to include this label.

At the meeting they also discussed the latest drug tenders launched in Andalusia, which both AESEG and the ministry have challenged in court (APMHE 35528). A ruling on the matter by the Spanish constitutional court could take years.

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