Generic Medicines save European Countries 100 Billion Euro per Year

Twice as many patients treated in Europe because of generic medicine

During a seminar in Lisbon, organized by APOGEN, on “The Value of Generic Medicines” it was highlighted that without the use of generic medicines, European countries would spend over a hundred billion euros more per year to treat patients. This is one of the conclusions of the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics study on “The Role of Generic Medicines in Sustaining Healthcare Systems: A European Perspective”.

The study concluded that by 2050 the European population aged over 65 will increase from 129 to 191 million, with a consequent increase in the incidence of chronic diseases and the corresponding impact on the health expense of states. Between 2005 and 2014, generic medicines made it possible for European countries to double the number of treated patients, whilst maintaining the same pharmaceutical budget.

The study “Value of the Generic Medicines – Health Economic Study” conducted by IGES Institute for “Medicines for Europe”, also presented, concludes that with the use of generic medicines, it is possible to treat considerably a greater number of patients suffering from hypertension maintaining the same level of expenditure; treat as many patients with breast cancer with lower expenditure and treat more patients with depression with, a slight increase in expense.

The seminar was attended by leading experts as Adrian van den Hoven, Director General of “Medicines for Europe”, António Vaz Carneiro, Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon and Director of the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine, Carlos Gouveia Pinto, Associate Professor at ISEG, Hélder Mota Filipe, member of the Board of INFARMED, IP (National Authority for Medicines and Health Products) and Paulo Lilaia, President of APOGEN.

“APOGEN’s mission is to disseminate the concepts of generic and biosimilar medicines, actively contributing to the development of this market segment in Portugal and making medicines more affordable in a sustainable health system," said Paulo Lilaia, President of APOGEN.  "The presentation of these two studies concludes that generic medicines bring great benefits for patients and for European states to increase patient access to treatment and simultaneously decrease the expense of states for medicines.”

Adrian van den Hoven, Director General of “Medicines for Europe” highlighted that “IMS report confirms the efforts by generic manufacturers to invest to bring better access for patients and more sustainability of pharmaceutical markets in Portugal and across Europe. Over the last decade, generics have increased the access to medicines by over 100% in seven key therapeutic areas without increasing the overall treatment cost. Millions of European patients have benefited from better access to "gold standard" therapies, treating most acute and chronic diseases - from cardiovascular to diabetes and even to cancer.”

It is also worth noting that the generic medicines industry employs more than 160,000 people in Europe and today generics already represent 56 percent of the medicines prescribed in Europe.