Drug production on record highs in Greece last year

Athens: Greece’s pharmaceutical industry is going from strength to strength, registering a new high in output last year and continuously expanding production, according to a study by the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE).

Pharma factories in Greece managed last year to raise the value of their manufactured products to 2.19 billion euros, a historic high, marking an annual increase of 14.4% compared to 2022. Within five years the companies of the sector managed to almost double the value of their production, as in 2018 it had reached €1.13 billion.

This stems from the IOBE report titled: “The Pharmaceutical Market in Greece: Facts and figures 2023,” prepared in cooperation with the Hellenic Association of Pharmaceutical Companies (SFEE).

According to this study, the pharmaceutical industry is one of the most dynamic sectors of the Greek economy, with particular importance for the health system, patients and the Greek economy.

As the study states, according to the Prodcom (Eurostat) survey, the production of medicine in Greece in value approached €2.2 billion in 2023, i.e. more than twice as high compared to the yearly average of the period 2009-2017 (€906 million).

The index of industrial output of pharmaceuticals increased in 2023 compared to 2022 by 20.5%, against an increase of 5.5% in the 27 members of the European Union. The index reading in Greece increased with a significant intensity across all quarters of 2023, with a slight slowdown at the end of the year and a decline in the first quarter of 2024, with an increase again in the second quarter, while in the EU-27 a strong negative change was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023 as well as in early 2024, with a small increase in the second quarter.

Furthermore, the turnover of pharmaceutical production continued its upward trend in 2023, while the increase continued in the first half of 2024. The turnover index in the EU-27 recorded an increase in 2022 and a decrease in 2023, while in the second quarter of 2024 there was a significant increase.

The added value of the pharmaceutical production sector was set at €1.6 billion in 2022 at constant prices (2015=100.0), constituting 5% of the total added value of manufacturing in terms of national accounts.