A GREEK Government-imposed mandatory 25% discount on a Roche cancer drug has seen the company withdraw the product from the country.
Greece's Minister of Health Andreas Xanthou last Tuesday expressed dismay over the decision to withdraw the product, saying the move was "unacceptable".
"Citizens' access to innovative medicines should not be a business decision," he said.
The cancer treatment that was pulled from Greece by Roche is Cotellic (cobimetinib), which is used to treat melanoma in combination with Zelboraf (vemurafenib).
A Roche spokesperson said the imposition of the mandatory 25% discount on innovative products, which is added to a series of other forced discounts, made supply of Cotellic in Greece at the reimbursed price unsustainable.
"We need to protect our company from the extremely unfavourable environment created by the rebate and discount based pricing policy for pharmaceutical companies in Greece," the company said.
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