No dolce vita as Italian pharma faces full Monti cuts
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
Italy's government has just finalised its latest spending review, and Massimo Scaccabarozzi, president of the country's pharmaceutical industry association Farmindustria, is not pleased. "Don't buy the drugs you need if you don't want to overspend," is his blunt message to the government. "We recognise the economic difficulties Italy is in and that we all have to contribute. But why must the pharmaceutical sector always make a disproportionate contribution when it accounts for only around 15% of the total healthcare expenditure?"