You are not currently logged in
| Local | |
| GMT |
Friday, 29 January 2010 10:45 GMT
Spanish weekly press review
MADRID, Jan 29 (APM) - Spain's eastern region of Valencia is to require some pharma sales reps to obtain a university degree in health sciences or pharmacology before being allowed to work in public health centres or hospitals, the daily El Mundo (p9) reported on Thursday.
It will be the first time in Spain that sales reps who visit doctors will be required to have a professional qualification. Only those who have worked as reps for less than two years have to obtain the degree.
Valencia's regional health department is expected to approve the requirement in March and the reps will be able to begin their courses in September.
Enrique Tomas Arteseros, the president of the Valencian reps' organisation known as the Regional Federation of Technical Health Informers, said his colleagues welcomed the move but were waiting to see how the plan works.
"It's good that they will receive accredited training in universities," he said, adding that their knowledge will help them to better explain the products of the pharma companies they represent to physicians.
Along with the new educational requirement, the Valencian authorities are also restricting visits by reps to each health centre and hospital to four times a year and they must make the visits in groups, El Mundo reported.
Reps may make a fifth annual visit only if they are promoting a new generic drug.
In addition, the administration must approve the date and time of visits beforehand and they must not take place during times when they may interfere with the physicians' work.
VACCINES
The global vaccines market is expected to double in value by 2016 and be worth 36 billion euros, the pharma news website El Global (p26) reported in this week's edition.
Citing figures from a report by the consulting firm GBI Research, the website said the market is set to grow by an annual average of 11.5% over the next six years.
Although vaccines have historically been low profit earners, pharma companies are becoming interested in the sector as they search for niche markets because of few new molecules on the horizon, expiring patents, the growth of generics and cut costing by government health agencies.
GB Research also said successful vaccines such as Gardasil, Cervarix and Prevenar should provide the R&D funding needed to develop the next generation of vaccines, the website reported.
CINFA
Spanish generics and over-the-counter (OTC) manufacturer Cinfa saw sales leap by 14% last year to 183 million euros despite the slowdown in the pharma market, according to company president Enrique Ordieres, the financial daily Cinco Dias (p7) reported on Thursday.
In a meeting with journalists, Ordieres said he expected turnover this year to reach 205 million euros even though he predicted a difficult year for the economy as a whole.
"It would seem that pharmaceuticals don't suffer so much in a crisis, however concerning generics our own crisis is caused by the annual lowering of prices thanks to the reference price system which hinders the sector from growing like it should," he said.
Cinfa, Spain's second largest pharma by unit sales, is to soon launch a new skin care product line under the Be+ brand and has earmarked 25 million euros for the project between now and 2017.
"The target for 2015 is to be among the five leading dermatology brands and reach 35 million euros in earnings," Ordieres said.
According to the president, Cinfa will invest 51 million euros in production and 77 million euros in research and development over the next five years.
MERCK
Genetics will play a larger part in Merck KGaA's future research into new medicines, pharma news website El Global said this week in a story about a genetics conference addressed by Merck Spain president Laura Gonzalez-Molero.
At the event, Gonzalez-Molero also said the German company invested 1.2 billion euros in R&D last year and the Merck lab in Spain accounted for much of the money.
She said that the Spanish lab "is one of the two main R&D centres Merck has in Europe for clinical research".
PHARMA SPEND
Spain's national health service spent 12.5 billion euros on drugs last year, a 4.4% increase over 2008, the medical news daily Diario Medico (p4) reported on Wednesday.
According to the paper, the government has managed each year to reduce growth in its medicines bill and noted that the average outlay per prescription was down 0.4% in 2009 compared to the previous year.
The number of prescriptions rose almost 5% last year, but that was less than the 5.5% growth in 2008, Diario Medico said, citing figures released by the health ministry.
H1N1
Spanish health minister Trinidad Jimenez has strongly denied that pharma companies which produced vaccines to combat the H1N1 pandemic pressured international organisations and governments to mount vaccination campaigns, the Zaragoza daily Heraldo de Aragon (p25) reported on Wednesday.
Asked if the interests of the vaccine makers were a factor in the decision to carry out the mass vaccinations, Jimenez replied: "Definitely not."
"The health authorities never had any contact with the companies except for signing the contracts to reserve the vaccines," she said, and went on to defend the World Health Organization's handling of the pandemic.
The Heraldo de Aragon and the Basque regional daily Deia (p15) quoted Spanish health experts as saying the ministry's early warnings about the impending arrival of the virus helped them prepare and saved many lives, dismissing criticism from some quarters that the government had exaggerated the threat.
Because of the ministry's contingency plans implemented in September, the survival rate among Spaniards with severe cases of the virus was 75% compared to 58% in Latin America, the experts said.
Jordi Rello, the chief of the intensive care unit at the Joan XXIII Hospital in Tarragona, told the paper that stocking up on antivirals and increasing the number of mechanical ventilators in Spanish hospitals saved almost 4,000 lives.
According to the Spanish Society of Intensive Care and Coronary Medicine, 872 patients with severe H1N1 have been treated in intensive care units since June.
In it latest report on the disease, the health ministry said almost 300 people have died from swine flu in Spain and that the virus has affected 30% of the population.
COST WARNINGS
Patients using free public health services in the southern region of Andalusia are to be told how much the government spends on their care in a bid to make them more aware of costs, the national daily El Pais (p39) reported on Friday.
In presenting the plan which is to begin later this year Andalusian health department chief Maria Jesus Montero said: "It's fundamental that citizens know that public services cost money."
Andalusian health service authorities told the paper that the scheme to be implemented at emergency centres and hospitals will also enlighten people as to where their taxes go.
In 2008, regional hospitals admitted 550,000 patients and emergency services treated 3.1 million outpatients. Seville's Virgen del Rocio Hospital handles an average of 842 emergency cases each day.
According to the paper, one day in an intensive care unit costs the government 2,000 euros and delivering a baby without complications costs 1,500 euros.
Montero was quick to assure the public that the move was not the first step towards charging co-payments for treatment.
"Co-payment is not the solution to the problem of the chronic financial shortfalls suffered by the public health systems," she said.
bj/hlc
[17937] 29/01/2010 10:45 GMT - GENERAL
It will be the first time in Spain that sales reps who visit doctors will be required to have a professional qualification. Only those who have worked as reps for less than two years have to obtain the degree.
Valencia's regional health department is expected to approve the requirement in March and the reps will be able to begin their courses in September.
Enrique Tomas Arteseros, the president of the Valencian reps' organisation known as the Regional Federation of Technical Health Informers, said his colleagues welcomed the move but were waiting to see how the plan works.
"It's good that they will receive accredited training in universities," he said, adding that their knowledge will help them to better explain the products of the pharma companies they represent to physicians.
Along with the new educational requirement, the Valencian authorities are also restricting visits by reps to each health centre and hospital to four times a year and they must make the visits in groups, El Mundo reported.
Reps may make a fifth annual visit only if they are promoting a new generic drug.
In addition, the administration must approve the date and time of visits beforehand and they must not take place during times when they may interfere with the physicians' work.
VACCINES
The global vaccines market is expected to double in value by 2016 and be worth 36 billion euros, the pharma news website El Global (p26) reported in this week's edition.
Citing figures from a report by the consulting firm GBI Research, the website said the market is set to grow by an annual average of 11.5% over the next six years.
Although vaccines have historically been low profit earners, pharma companies are becoming interested in the sector as they search for niche markets because of few new molecules on the horizon, expiring patents, the growth of generics and cut costing by government health agencies.
GB Research also said successful vaccines such as Gardasil, Cervarix and Prevenar should provide the R&D funding needed to develop the next generation of vaccines, the website reported.
CINFA
Spanish generics and over-the-counter (OTC) manufacturer Cinfa saw sales leap by 14% last year to 183 million euros despite the slowdown in the pharma market, according to company president Enrique Ordieres, the financial daily Cinco Dias (p7) reported on Thursday.
In a meeting with journalists, Ordieres said he expected turnover this year to reach 205 million euros even though he predicted a difficult year for the economy as a whole.
"It would seem that pharmaceuticals don't suffer so much in a crisis, however concerning generics our own crisis is caused by the annual lowering of prices thanks to the reference price system which hinders the sector from growing like it should," he said.
Cinfa, Spain's second largest pharma by unit sales, is to soon launch a new skin care product line under the Be+ brand and has earmarked 25 million euros for the project between now and 2017.
"The target for 2015 is to be among the five leading dermatology brands and reach 35 million euros in earnings," Ordieres said.
According to the president, Cinfa will invest 51 million euros in production and 77 million euros in research and development over the next five years.
MERCK
Genetics will play a larger part in Merck KGaA's future research into new medicines, pharma news website El Global said this week in a story about a genetics conference addressed by Merck Spain president Laura Gonzalez-Molero.
At the event, Gonzalez-Molero also said the German company invested 1.2 billion euros in R&D last year and the Merck lab in Spain accounted for much of the money.
She said that the Spanish lab "is one of the two main R&D centres Merck has in Europe for clinical research".
PHARMA SPEND
Spain's national health service spent 12.5 billion euros on drugs last year, a 4.4% increase over 2008, the medical news daily Diario Medico (p4) reported on Wednesday.
According to the paper, the government has managed each year to reduce growth in its medicines bill and noted that the average outlay per prescription was down 0.4% in 2009 compared to the previous year.
The number of prescriptions rose almost 5% last year, but that was less than the 5.5% growth in 2008, Diario Medico said, citing figures released by the health ministry.
H1N1
Spanish health minister Trinidad Jimenez has strongly denied that pharma companies which produced vaccines to combat the H1N1 pandemic pressured international organisations and governments to mount vaccination campaigns, the Zaragoza daily Heraldo de Aragon (p25) reported on Wednesday.
Asked if the interests of the vaccine makers were a factor in the decision to carry out the mass vaccinations, Jimenez replied: "Definitely not."
"The health authorities never had any contact with the companies except for signing the contracts to reserve the vaccines," she said, and went on to defend the World Health Organization's handling of the pandemic.
The Heraldo de Aragon and the Basque regional daily Deia (p15) quoted Spanish health experts as saying the ministry's early warnings about the impending arrival of the virus helped them prepare and saved many lives, dismissing criticism from some quarters that the government had exaggerated the threat.
Because of the ministry's contingency plans implemented in September, the survival rate among Spaniards with severe cases of the virus was 75% compared to 58% in Latin America, the experts said.
Jordi Rello, the chief of the intensive care unit at the Joan XXIII Hospital in Tarragona, told the paper that stocking up on antivirals and increasing the number of mechanical ventilators in Spanish hospitals saved almost 4,000 lives.
According to the Spanish Society of Intensive Care and Coronary Medicine, 872 patients with severe H1N1 have been treated in intensive care units since June.
In it latest report on the disease, the health ministry said almost 300 people have died from swine flu in Spain and that the virus has affected 30% of the population.
COST WARNINGS
Patients using free public health services in the southern region of Andalusia are to be told how much the government spends on their care in a bid to make them more aware of costs, the national daily El Pais (p39) reported on Friday.
In presenting the plan which is to begin later this year Andalusian health department chief Maria Jesus Montero said: "It's fundamental that citizens know that public services cost money."
Andalusian health service authorities told the paper that the scheme to be implemented at emergency centres and hospitals will also enlighten people as to where their taxes go.
In 2008, regional hospitals admitted 550,000 patients and emergency services treated 3.1 million outpatients. Seville's Virgen del Rocio Hospital handles an average of 842 emergency cases each day.
According to the paper, one day in an intensive care unit costs the government 2,000 euros and delivering a baby without complications costs 1,500 euros.
Montero was quick to assure the public that the move was not the first step towards charging co-payments for treatment.
"Co-payment is not the solution to the problem of the chronic financial shortfalls suffered by the public health systems," she said.
bj/hlc
[17937] 29/01/2010 10:45 GMT - GENERAL
