The financial results of Terapia Ranbaxy, the largest drug producer on the Romanian market, were affected by the introduction of the clawback tax charged on drug producers’ sales.
Terapia Ranbaxy’s chief executive officer, Dragos Damian, said the business environment in Romania has significantly worsened over the past six months and the company’s performance is the direct impact of the introduction of the clawback tax. Damian added that any additional plans for investments in Romania in the third quarter of the year will be jeopardized unless the tax is altered.
The clawback system was implemented at the end of 2009 and stated all medicine producers must contribute 5% to 11% of drug sales to finance the public healthcare system. Pharmaceutical companies complained about the consequences of the tax and the Romanian Government admitted the system proved inefficient, as it collected only 5% of the sum expected to be raised.
Drug producers warned that hundreds of products might be pulled from the market, because Romanian authorities have rejected every suggestion concerning the clawback tax from the generic drug industry.