TURKEY SQUEEZES PHARMA SECTOR TO EASE HEALTH

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 001352 SIPDIS DEPT PLEASE PASS USTR FOR MMOWREY COMMERCE FOR CRUSNAK, KNAJDI, AND BWOODS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/13/2019 TAGS: ECON ETRD PGOV EFIN TU SUBJECT: TURKEY SQUEEZES PHARMA SECTOR TO EASE HEALTH BUDGET DEFICIT Classified By: Economic Counselor Dale Eppler for reason 1.4(d) ¶1. (C) Summary. Faced with a TL 1 billion deficit in its health care spending for 2009 and significant additional deficits in years to come, the GOT is scrambling for ways to close the gap. According to pharmaceutical sector representatives, a large part of the GOT strategy appears to be to lay the financial burden on both local and foreign pharmaceutical firms, with a demand that up to 85 percent of the cost overrun be paid by the private sector. This would result in losses to U.S. firms of around USD 500 million this year alone, or roughly 7-8 percent of total sales, and could potentially devastate the local generics producers. The sector has told us that they are willing to work with the GOT on sharing the load until the economic crisis has passed, but GOT proposals to date are based on unrealistic expectations and would create a massive, ongoing moral hazard and unacceptable level of risk for any firm operating in Turkey. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) Charge met with representatives of the Local American Working Group of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA),who provided a briefing on recent discussions between the GOT and the pharmaceutical sector on how to bridge the growing deficit in healthcare spending on pharmaceuticals. Attending the meeting were Rob Smith, Managing Director of Eli Lilly Turkey, Huzur Devletsah, Corporate Affairs Director at Eli Lilly, Jeffrey Kemprecos, Government Relations Director at Merck, Sharp & Dohme and Chris Stijnen, General Manager of Bristol-Myers Squibb Turkey. Turkish HEALTH Care Trends -------------- ¶3. (U) A key part of the AKP's political platform has been the extension of universal HEALTH care. In the period between 2004 and 2008, this raised the number of covered persons from 49 million to 63 million. The average number of doctor visits per person also increased from 2.6 per year to 6.2 per year. In addition, in 2005 the GOT changed the rules to allow patients to obtain their drugs from any pharmacy rather than relying on state hospital dispensaries. The state's share of pharmaceutical costs is also the highest in the OECD, with the public purse paying for roughly 80 percent of drug purchases (compared to 30% in the U.S. or barely 10% in Mexico). ¶4. (U) All these (laudable) changes put increased pressure on state HEALTH care spending, and in particular on pharmaceutical spending. More visits meant more prescriptions, and easier access to pharmacies meant more people filled their prescriptions. On top of this, the Turkish social security system covers over the counter drugs and vitamins the same as prescriptions, and has very low co-payments. As a result, spending on drugs rose from a little over TL 4 billion in 2002 to TL 13 billion in 2008, but because of Turkey's strong economic growth over the period these increases were manageable. Indeed, Turkey's per capita spending on HEALTH care and its spending on pharmaceuticals remain the lowest in the OECD. The share of health care spending as a percentage of GDP also puts Turkey in the lower end of the OECD. What Happens When the Money Dries Up -------------- ¶5. (SBU) As a result of the economic crisis, Turkey faced declining revenues at the same time that demand for pharmaceuticals continued to rise as previously underserved people entered the HEALTH care system. The budget for 2009 planned to spend TL 14.6 billion on pharmaceuticals, but the actual total is estimated to be at least TL 15.6 billion. Health Minister Akdag, confronted with this deficit and years of future gaps to come, came up with the idea of a Global Health Budget that would cap all spending and require cost-sharing by the private sector to meet any cost overruns. ¶6. (C) As part of this plan, a series of meetings under the auspices of Deputy PM Babacan laid out GOT proposals to the private sector associations (both foreign and local) on how the gap would be bridged. The GOT proposals were presented as a fait accompli: If a company does not agree to the proposals, the implicit but clear threat was that their products will be delisted. The most shocking proposal was a demand that the private sector cover 85 percent of any costs beyond the budgeted amount (and a strange argument that the TL 14.6 billion budget for 2009 should be further reduced to a base of TL 13.3 billion because of the difficult fiscal situation). This policy would be continued over the next several years, creating a massive moral hazard where HEALTH agencies would have no incentive to rationalize their spending because the private sector would subsidize whatever they spend beyond a budget that they themselves determine. ¶7. (C) In addition, the GOT wants to expand the reference pricing system to include additional (cheaper) countries - Turkey's system already differs from most in that it requires the lowest price in any reference country to be used for Turkey rather than an average of the reference countries. Prices for products whose data exclusivity (DE) protection has expired would also be immediately cut 30 percent. This change is inspired by a Greek model, but ignores that the DE period in Greece is ten years and that the six-year statutory Turkish DE period is already extremely short in practice because marketing authorizations take 2-3 years to approve, reducing the effective DE period in Turkey to just 3-4 years. A final decision on these proposals is expected by the end of September, so that the overall budget proposal can be finalized in October. Killing the Goose that Lays the Golden Eggs -------------- ¶8. (C) According to the firms at the meeting, the estimated cost of these proposals for U.S. firms would be USD 500 million in 2009 alone, equivalent to roughly 7-8 percent of their total sales in Turkey, and an additional USD 700 million next year. As painful as that would be for the foreign firms, the cost share that would fall on the local generics producers would be devastating, as they lack the international cushion and economies of scale that multinational firms have. All firms agreed that it would make it extremely difficult to do business profitably in Turkey, and would likely lead to fewer new drugs being introduced into the Turkish market and a greatly reduced level of pharmaceutical investment. Stijnen of Bristol-Myers Squibb noted that his company had identified Turkey as ONE of five priority countries for investment but that several planned projects now have been put on hold because of the regulatory uncertainty. The firms also observed that the sector already made two substantial concessions to the GOT this year because of the crisis: first, accepting a demand for an additional seven percent discount on new drugs and second, foregoing foreign exchange rate adjustments of 22 percent that were contractually due to them. ¶9. (C) All the firms noted that they could live with the idea of a budget cap with cost-sharing of overruns as long as the budget itself is prepared realistically, includes reasonable assumptions about growth, and equitably shares additional costs between the government and the private sector. They felt that the current figures were being pulled out of thin air, however, and did not reflect the reality that the growing demand for pharmaceuticals is not being driven by Turkey's economic growth per se, but rather by the inclusion of previously unmet need. In addition, the moral hazard created by placing 85 percent of the burden on the private sector would give the government no incentive to look at areas where cost savings could be achieved. As Smith of Eli Lilly remarked, "The GOT is using a crisis mentality to develop a long-term model. We understand that 2009 has been a difficult year that no ONE - including ourselves - expected, and we are willing to do our share to mitigate those problems. But continuing these policies for years to come instead of budgeting more realistically is simply irrational." ¶10. (C) In terms of savings, the firms pointed out that the GOT pays an inordinately high share of pharmaceutical costs for its citizens. Increasing co-pays would have an immediate beneficial effect on the budget, although it would likely prove unpopular. In addition, the range of covered drugs is extremely generous and includes OTC medications like aspirin and even vitamins. Restricting the use of these "comfort drugs" or increasing the co-pay for them would also pay immediate dividends (and again, be unpopular). Comment -------------- ¶11. (C) The GOT has a genuine budget problem, but seems unwilling to accept that its political commitment to provide universal HEALTH care comes with a financial price tag. If the proposals go through in their current form, they will kill the prospects for investment and growth in pharmaceutical production for years to come, which is especially frustrating as the pharmaceutical sector is an area where Turkey has very high potential. Post will continue to press our GOT interlocutors to work with companies to arrive at a more equitable, realistic solution to this problem. We encouraged the U.S. firms to work with Turkish generic manufacturers to present joint alternatives so as to avoid turning this into a foreign-versus-domestic issue. We also suggested that they raise the issue with the IMF as it continues its discussions with the GOT on developing a long-term, sustainable budget. JEFFREY "Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.s gov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turkey"