Switzerland is too small a market for certain medicines
Published: Sunday, Dec 24th 2023, 11:30
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The shortage of certain medicines is partly due to the small Swiss market. According to the online pharmacy Zur Rose, Switzerland is less attractive for manufacturers than its larger neighboring countries.
"Some medicines could disappear from the Swiss market at some point, if they haven't already," Simon Marquard from the online pharmacy's media office told Keystone-SDA.
Price pressure is high, he continued. And if medicines become cheaper and cheaper, at some point it will no longer be attractive for manufacturers of products whose patent protection has expired to offer them. The approval procedure is demanding and complex. And the separate approval procedure required in Switzerland is not always worthwhile in view of the small quantities that the market allows.
The Federal Office for National Economic Supply (FONES) points out another difficulty: the need to translate all package inserts into three languages.
©Keystone/SDA
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