Research ailing from high taxes
On the surface, with strong human resources, an excellent international reputation and a low cost base, Poland is an ideal environment for clinical trials - and many international pharmaceutical firms have chosen to test their new products here.
Companies typically contact a local firm willing to arrange all the necessary back-up for a test, including equipment, specialists and a control group.
However, after the test is completed and large sums have been invested, many companies suddenly find that they are on the receiving end of some bad medicine, in the form of a 22-percent VAT charge on their invoices. This VAT rate does not apply to similar services anywhere else in Europe.
"We expect that the tax legislation will be unified with the EU one," says Tomasz Jędrowicz from PricewaterhouseCoopers' tax department. "In the EU, the VAT on service is paid by an entity in their own country," he explains. Additionally, there is a danger that a foreign company might not be able to reclaim the VAT paid in Poland it its mother country.
Each year 400 new clinical tests on new drugs start in Poland. Each new venture of this kind means greater access to advanced technologies, treatment methods and knowledge, but also better career and salary opportunities for Polish doctors.
"Doctors in Germany are not interested in executing clinical tests, as they earn fortunes," says Jacek Sklepowicz, a manager in the pharmaceutical department of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Unfortunately, the number of clinical tests carried out annually in Poland is a static 400, whereas other Central and Eastern European countries are recording continuous growth. This could be due to the VAT burden and the complicated registration procedures, especially when the Polish system is compared to that in other EU countries, which are trying to compete with the US.
Since the beginning of the 1990s to 2004 about 1,360 clinical tests were completed in Poland with the participation of more than 110,000 patients. Rather than capitalizing on this niche market, the tax regime seems to be punishing it.
"We have made an analysis that shows that drug producers spent at least zł.880 million, calculating by the lowest costs. For sure it was an amount exceeding zł.1 billion," said Piotr Soszyński from Astra Zeneca, the author of the first report on clinical tests in Poland.
Companies typically contact a local firm willing to arrange all the necessary back-up for a test, including equipment, specialists and a control group.
However, after the test is completed and large sums have been invested, many companies suddenly find that they are on the receiving end of some bad medicine, in the form of a 22-percent VAT charge on their invoices. This VAT rate does not apply to similar services anywhere else in Europe.
"We expect that the tax legislation will be unified with the EU one," says Tomasz Jędrowicz from PricewaterhouseCoopers' tax department. "In the EU, the VAT on service is paid by an entity in their own country," he explains. Additionally, there is a danger that a foreign company might not be able to reclaim the VAT paid in Poland it its mother country.
Each year 400 new clinical tests on new drugs start in Poland. Each new venture of this kind means greater access to advanced technologies, treatment methods and knowledge, but also better career and salary opportunities for Polish doctors.
"Doctors in Germany are not interested in executing clinical tests, as they earn fortunes," says Jacek Sklepowicz, a manager in the pharmaceutical department of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Unfortunately, the number of clinical tests carried out annually in Poland is a static 400, whereas other Central and Eastern European countries are recording continuous growth. This could be due to the VAT burden and the complicated registration procedures, especially when the Polish system is compared to that in other EU countries, which are trying to compete with the US.
Since the beginning of the 1990s to 2004 about 1,360 clinical tests were completed in Poland with the participation of more than 110,000 patients. Rather than capitalizing on this niche market, the tax regime seems to be punishing it.
"We have made an analysis that shows that drug producers spent at least zł.880 million, calculating by the lowest costs. For sure it was an amount exceeding zł.1 billion," said Piotr Soszyński from Astra Zeneca, the author of the first report on clinical tests in Poland.
