Medicines should be treated as an investment, not a cost. That is the conclusion of new European research finding that Greece’s €93mn spend on innovative therapies returned €557mn in economic and social value over eight years.

The WifOR Institute study links newer medicines to 25,600 fewer years of life lost prematurely and 252,400 fewer hospital days – clinical gains that clinicians say have transformed daily practice.

The study found that new therapies are changing the way Greek physicians treat diseases ranging from severe asthma to cancer, reducing hospitalisations and helping patients live longer, healthier lives, while generating significant economic benefits.

For doctors treating patients every day, pharmaceutical innovation is no longer an abstract discussion about research pipelines or drug approvals. It has fundamentally changed clinical practice.

“Innovative medicines didn’t just bring new treatments. They changed the way doctors understand and manage disease,” said Stelios Loukidis, president of the Hellenic Respiratory Society, speaking at a presentation of the WifOR Institute study.

Oncology has undergone an equally profound transformation, according to Emmanouil Saloustros, president of the Hellenic Society of Medical Oncology (EOPE), while George Makrilakis, president of the Hellenic Diabetes Association, described an “explosion of innovation” in pharmaceuticals and technologies in diabetes and obesity care over the past decades.

From managing disease to changing its course

Makrilakis described innovation in diabetes care as “a revolution”, noting that newer therapies do more than regulate blood glucose levels.

“Until the beginning of the 2000s, medicine was able to just control blood glucose. After the first decade, for the first time, we had medicines that reduced complications and reduced deaths,” he said.

For patients with cardiovascular disease, he added, these treatments help prevent further events, prolong survival and improve quality of life. As Loukidis pointed out, innovative approaches in diabetes care also positively affect other comorbidities, like cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases,

“Innovative medicines didn’t just bring new treatments, they also changed the way doctors understand disease,” Loukidis said, recalling the introduction of the first biologic therapy for severe asthma in Greece, which was accompanied by extensive physician training.

“Innovation was combined with education. We learned to recognise patients we previously didn’t know how to identify and to treat them differently,” Loukidis said.

The impact has been tangible. According to data by the Hellenic Respiratory Society, innovative therapies have reduced severe asthma exacerbations by around 80% and hospitalisations by 90%, fundamentally changing patients’ quality of life. “The benefit is not only fewer hospital admissions,” Loukidis said. “Patients can continue working, participating in family life and living much more normal lives.”

He also mentioned the example of pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP), a rare lung disease. Until a few years ago, Greek patients had to travel to the UK every two months to undergo a whole-lung lavage (a complex procedure in which the lungs are washed to remove the proteinaceous material that accumulates in the air sacs). “Today, thanks to the development of a new inhaled medicine, most of the patients get to lead a rather normal life,” he remarked.

Cystic fibrosis is another area where innovation changed the trajectory of the disease. “Imagine knowing that you will die by the age of 35. It is scary. Until a new medicine came out and radically changed everything. A costly medicine for a few people, around 800 in Greece, but it has changed the lives of patients and their families.” According to Loukidis, new data, showing a median survival of 62 years, will be presented at the European Respiratory Society conference.

In oncology, the progress reflects decades of continuous pharmaceutical innovation rather than a single breakthrough, as Saloustros pointed out. “Compared to the 90s, we have reduced cancer mortality in the US and Europe by about 33%,” he noted, adding that better therapies and better understanding of the disease have largely contributed to this progress.

According to Saloustros, at the beginning of the 2000s, only one in twenty patients with metastatic lung cancer survived for five years.

“Today, with immunotherapy and other innovative medicines, survival has risen to as many as one in four or even three,” he said. Cancer is increasingly becoming a disease that patients live with for many years, he remarked.

Beyond the price tag

The clinicians’ observations were echoed by a study from the WifOR Institute, commissioned by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) and presented in Athens by Hellenic Association of Pharmaceutical Companies (SFEE). The study analysed the impact of newer medicines across 29 European countries using data covering 2014–2022.

For Greece, the researchers estimate that an investment of €93 million in innovative medicines generated around €557 million in socioeconomic value, corresponding to a return of €5.98 for every euro invested.

The estimated €557 million in socioeconomic value includes around €430 million from productivity gains and €127 million in avoided hospitalisation costs. Much of that value came from fewer hospitalisations, increased productivity and longer, healthier lives.

The analysis also estimates that innovative medicines were associated with around 25,600 fewer years of life lost prematurely and approximately 252,400 fewer hospital days in Greece.

Across the 29 European countries included in the study, newer medicines were linked to 1.83 million fewer years of life lost before the age of 85, 2.64 million fewer hospital admissions and almost 21 million fewer hospital days.

Innovation requires more than medicines

Makrilakis argued that medicines alone are not enough to improve outcomes. “Innovation only creates value if it reaches the right patient at the right time,” he said, stressing the need for trained healthcare professionals, specialised centres and health systems capable of integrating new therapies into routine clinical practice.

That broader perspective is particularly relevant as Greece, like many EU countries, continues to grapple with pharmaceutical expenditure while seeking to improve patient access to innovative treatments.

The WifOR study argues that medicines should not be viewed solely as a healthcare cost but also as an investment capable of reducing pressure on hospitals and supporting wider economic activity.

The findings, Olimpios Papadimitriou, president of SFEE, argued, reinforce the case for viewing pharmaceutical innovation as an investment rather than simply a cost. “The WifOR study confirms that investment in healthcare is not a cost, but a driver of economic growth and social prosperity. Greece needs an environment that fosters innovation and ensures timely patient access to new therapies,” he said.

[BM]