Europe has long had a love-hate relationship with the pharmaceutical industry. When politicians wish to boast of the high-tech and knowledge-based economies they have fostered, they wheel out the profitable returns from drug companies. Yet when the public mood suits, those same politicians criticize the profits, and use them to justify calls for price cuts.rnThe price of medicines, especially costly new drugs, is again a hot topic in cash-strapped Europe. Several countries are weighing up new ways to determine both the cost and the value of such medicines. The move would have pleased Oscar Wilde, who famously remarked that a cynic knew the price of everything and the value of nothing; but the pharmaceutical giants are nervous.
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