Adonis Georgiadis: “IFET Has Exploded – Clawback Is Distorting the Pharmaceutical Market”

 Access to innovative medicines and the role of industry

Greek Health Minister Άδωνις Γεωργιάδης addressed concerns raised by pharmaceutical industry representatives regarding patient access to innovative medicines and how these products enter the Greek market.

He stated that patients in Greece already have broad access to approved innovative therapies, primarily through standard reimbursement pathways and special access mechanisms.

However, he acknowledged that:

• access is not always immediate
• alternative channels are often used, leading to delays in treatment delivery

IFET’s expanding role in medicine supply

A central focus of the intervention was the role of the IFET, which handles emergency and alternative medicine supply.

Georgiadis highlighted a dramatic increase in activity:

• from approximately €60–65 million turnover in earlier years
• to over €420 million today

He described IFET as having evolved into a major parallel supply channel for medicines, driven by systemic pressures in the reimbursement system.

 Clawback pressures reshaping the market

The minister argued that Greece’s clawback mechanism is creating unintended distortions in the pharmaceutical market.

According to him:

• rising clawback in the standard reimbursement list pushes companies toward IFET
• this encourages use of alternative import routes to avoid financial burdens
• ultimately creating inequalities between pharmaceutical companies

He warned that these dynamics generate structural imbalances in how medicines enter the Greek healthcare system.

 New Transitional Reimbursement Fund

A key policy proposal introduced is the Transitional Reimbursement Fund, designed to support true pharmaceutical innovation.

Its core features include:

• linking reimbursement to real-world outcomes over a 3-year horizon
• allowing companies to define expected benefits upfront
• reassessing performance after clinical use data is collected
• removing benefits if claims of effectiveness are not validated

The goal is to incentivize genuine innovation rather than incremental or poorly evidenced claims.

 “We are trying to fix systemic distortions”

Georgiadis stressed that the aim of the reforms is to:

• improve transparency in pharmaceutical pricing and access
• strengthen the standard approval pathway over emergency imports
• ensure a fairer distribution of financial burden across companies

He acknowledged that current arrangements have created friction in the market but argued that reforms are intended to restore balance.

Policy direction

The overall strategy combines:

• improved patient access to innovative therapies
• tighter control of parallel supply channels like IFET
• redesign of reimbursement incentives through outcome-based funding

The minister emphasized that the objective is a more transparent and equitable pharmaceutical system in Greece.

Source: pagenews.gr