“Economically, the tax is inapplicable, because pharmaceutical companies would have to cover the entire difference between the budget earmarked and medicine consumption,” Tuesday said Cristian Lutan, deputy general manager of ARPIM.
He added that ARPIM ran a simulation on the budget forecast for 2012, and the clawback tax producers should pay right now reaches RON1.7 billion.
“We will have to pay a tax on revenue we have not achieved yet, because the new clawback tax refers to the selling price of medicine, which includes the producer price, the distribution margin, price additions in drug stores and the value added tax. For example, for medicine worth RON100 sold on the market, a company will have to pay clawback worth RON136, which is unsustainable,” Lutan said.
The ARPIM official went on saying that the clawback tax could have several negative results, as companies unable to pay the tax will have their drugs removed from the compensated medicine list, which entails higher prices for said drugs. In addition, companies will have to cut costs, with consequences on a social level and reduced contribution to the state budget.
Even though the Government has already approved the clawback tax, producer representatives are still requesting dialogue with the Health Ministry and the Finance Ministry, for the development and implementation of “a sustainable clawback mechanism”. (EUR1=RON4.3195)