Madrid, May 14th 2014.- The Minister of Finance and Public Administrations, Cristóbal Montoro and representatives of FARMAINDUSTRIA’S Governing Bodies, held a meeting today in Madrid to examine the current situation of the pharmaceutical industry and the state of affairs of the Region’s debt corresponding to the supply of medicines to hospitals in the Spanish National Healthcare System (SNS).

During the meeting, FARMAINDUSTRIA’s President, Mrs. Elvira Sanz, the Director General, Humberto Arnés, and three of its vice-presidents Jesús Acebillo, Javier Ellena and Jordi Ramentol explained the current situation of the pharmaceutical industry in Spain, highlighting that, in the course of the last few years, important adjustments have been made as far as pharmaceutical expenditure is concerned, which have had serious impacts on the sector.

With the above in mind, they requested support from Montoro to create a stable and predictable framework for the sector with regards to price and access of innovative medicines, linking the growth of public pharmaceutical expenditure to the pace of economy, establishing structural solutions in the new regional financing so that autonomous regions could adequately fund their healthcare, as well as allowing for a more flexible and favorable fiscal treatment to R&D.

FARMAINDUSTRIA’s representatives thanked the head of the Department of Finance and Public Ad-ministration for the efforts made by the Government for the two Payment Plans for Suppliers, as well as for establishing the Regional Liquidity Fund (FLA), aimed at solving the problem of debts with healthcare suppliers. For the pharmaceutical industry, these instruments provided a solution to one of the most important recent demands made on the sector, which had been having dramatic consequences for many companies, as well as severely affecting Spain’s international image.

Finally, FARMAINDUSTRIA’s representatives requested the Minister of Finance to take into account the pharmaceutical sector’s opinion when drawing up the Draft Royal Decree which will regulate the calculation methodology of Public Administrations’ average payment period to suppliers.