Europe is entering a new era of medical and pharmaceutical innovation, with treatments that promise to radically transform the management of cancer, rare diseases and chronic conditions.
Yet for many Greek patients, this innovation still feels very distant.
New data presented by the Hellenic Association of Pharmaceutical Companies (SFEE) and the global data company IQVIA show that Greece continues to lag significantly behind in access to innovative therapies, both compared with the European average and with Europe’s largest markets.
According to the Patients W.A.I.T. Indicator 2025 study by EFPIA and IQVIA, fewer new medicines are reaching the Greek market, waiting times for patients remain extremely long, and an increasing number of pharmaceutical companies appear reluctant to launch new products in Greece.
Only 69 of the 168 new medicines approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in the period 2021-2024 have reached Greece. Of these, just 36 are fully accessible to patients through the reimbursement system, while the rest are available only via restrictive procedures, such as IFET and the Electronic Pre-Approval Systems.
