The Pharmaceutical Association of Thessaloniki complained that the city’s pharmacies have run out of the diabetes medicine Ozempic (1mg).
However, the warehouses of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Technology (IFET) are filled with Ozempic waiting to receive a code from the National Organization for Medicines (EOF).
According to the president of the Thessaloniki’s Pharmaceutical Association, Dionysis Evgenidis, the quantities of the specific medicine (1mg) procured by IFET have been exhausted. The Pharmacists’ Cooperative of Thessaloniki requested 400 packets of Ozempic (1mg) and received only 72. Pharmacies informed them that there would be a gradual supply of the market to cover the needs of the patients. However, they were recently informed that this is not the case, since no other quantities are expected.
Speaking with the managing director of IFET, Yannis Sotiriou, it was found out that there is Ozempic (1mg) medicine in their warehouses (3-month and 1-month packages at lower prices than the previous ones) which have not received codes from the National Organization for Medicines over the last 40 days and as a result they cannot be made available.
Market sources explained to us that the problem is that the amount to be used for the prescriptions will come from the first half of the closed budget which means that a clawback will technically be created for the company.
And here another question arises. Why does the Negotiation Committee not invite the company to a new negotiation since the three-month package is cheaper than the monthly package? The cost of the monthly treatment reaches 280 euros and the cost of the three-month medicine amounts to 650 euros (230 per month).
