Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-02-07

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Rothschild bank to help gov't prepare for a return to the markets, Tzanakopoulos says

[02] EU-wide social security systems needed to address Europe's legitimacy issues, Katrougalos tells GAC

[03] Action planned to make innovative drugs 'accessible and affordable' for all, Health minister says

[01] Rothschild bank to help gov't prepare for a return to the markets, Tzanakopoulos says

Replying to questions, Tzanakopoulos said that Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos sent a letter to the board of the Public Debt Management Agency on January 25, asking for the immediate hiring of a technical consultant to prepare for Greece's attempts to resume borrowing from financial markets. The agency's board sent a reply naming the Rothschild investment bank on January 27 and the issue of a ministerial decision to this effect is now pending, he added.

[02] EU-wide social security systems needed to address Europe's legitimacy issues, Katrougalos tells GAC

He also suggested adoption of a minimum wage linked to average wages in each country, harmonisation of taxation policies and establishing a 'Eurogroup' for labour and social affairs ministers.

Katrougalos presented Greece's priority, with emphasis on the social aspects and the democratisation of EU economic governance, at the GAC and during successive meetings that he held on the sidelines of the Council and in the European Parliament.

He also referred to the refugee issue, underlining the need to respect EU decisions for the relocation of refugees.

[03] Action planned to make innovative drugs 'accessible and affordable' for all, Health minister says

Xanthos pointed out that the cost of new drugs had increased so much in recent years that they were now unaffordable for many European citizens.

"The policies followed until now did not ensure either universal and fair access to pharmaceuticals, or the sustainability of the public health system. Our goal is to design a new national policy on pharmaceuticals, a new powerful social contract between the State, society and the pharmaceutical market organisations," he said.

The minister referred to setting "fair prices" for innovative medication and noted that most drugs were not the product of genuine innovation but followed an already established model with perhaps some minor modifications. Their approval, he added, was given chiefly through supplementary extensions of existing patents.

"Pharmaceuticals are the sector 'par excellence' where the market economy has proved incapable of acting on terms of broader social interest," Xanthos added, announcing initiatives on three levels.

He said the government will gradually roll out an integrated and reliable national system for the assessment of health technology, which would also enable an assessment of pharmaceuticals with added value, compared with the best available alternatives. The system would also take into account the degree of innovation and carry out a cost-benefit analysis on a social and econmic level, he added.

"We are in the process of designing a transitional stage that we hope to implement within the first quarter of the year and we are also proceeding with planning to create an independent Health Technology Assessment organisation that we hope will be completed by the start of the second half of 2017," the minister said.

On the second and third levels, Xanthos said the government will seek deeper and closer cooperation on a European and inter-state level regarding HTA issues.

"We have a long road to travel and we consider that, given the mature and sincere cooperation of all parts of the pharmaceuticals chain, we will succeed," he concluded.

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