Some 800 different pharmaceuticals are in danger to be withdrawn from the Cyprus market due to a legal obstacle even though some of them are widely used.
This is what Philenews reported on Thursday, adding that import procedures and a forgotten provision of the legislation is the reason behind the possible withdrawal.
The specific provision was sent to the Legal Service for study and an opinion a year ago, but the Pharmaceutical Service which is the competent authority still waits for their response.
Pharmaceutical Services officers had realised that the legislation stipulates the issuing of invoices for payment of drugs must be done only by the wholesale license holder of each preparation.
In other words, the company/wholesale license holder exporting the drugs to Cyprus has to issue the invoices that importers receive.
In practice, this creates a huge problem for Cyprus – especially as concerns preparations imported from Greece but also from some other countries.
Because the marketing authorization holder companies (manufacturers or official distributors) issuing invoices for Cypriot importers do not have the wholesale license of sale.
But, instead, they cooperate on the basis of contracts with other licensed entities from which they receive the quantities ordered by Cypriot importers.
