Drugmakers in Turkey lost about $3.5 billion in sales in 2010 after the government cut prices as much as 50 percent in successive reductions, Hurriyet said, citing Engin Guner, vice chairman of the country's original drugmakers association.
Price reductions also led to about 2,000 job losses in the 25,000-strong drug employment market in Turkey, said Guner, of the Istanbul-based Research-based Pharmaceutical Cos., Bloomberg reported according to the newspaper.
Turkish government cut the price of original drugs by as much as 30 percent in total in December 2009 and November 2010 as it tried to reduce health spending to 14.96 billion liras ($9.4 billion) in 2011 from 15.2 billion last year, according to the government's budget targets, said Guldem Berkman, chief executive of Novartis AG's Turkish unit, on Jan. 28.