UK manufacturers have reassured pharmacists that they will not face similar medicines shortages to Greece, following media reports of manufacturers withholding supply after the country ran up £1.7 billion in unpaid bills.

Greek pharmacies were running low on medicines after manufacturers, who also cited fears that the drugs would be sold abroad, withheld more than 200 products, the Guardian reported last week.

But the economic situation in Greece was "radically different" to the UK, said the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI).

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	"In Greece, unprecedented financial problems have led to pharmaceutical companies facing £1.7bn in unpaid bills for their medicines. The UK does not face these same extreme economic problems and pharmaceutical companies here operate in normal market conditions," said an ABPI spokesperson.

"In this country, Nice assesses the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of medicines and so, in effect, assesses whether the health system can afford new treatments," the spokesperson added.

Pharmaceutical companies had offered the Greek government significant discounts on medicines and were committed to finding a solution to the shortage, the ABPI said.

The British Association of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers (BAPW) agreed that the UK was unlikely to face medicines shortages on a similar scale.

"If you're asking me 'could this happen in the UK?', I don't think it could because there are obligations on wholesalers through European legislation to supply the whole market," said BAPW executive director Martin Sawer.

"Greece has those same obligations, so it could be about regulation. It could be about one or two drug companies getting nervous about being paid," Mr Sawer told C+D. "The [UK] government has been chairing a supply-chain forum on branded-medicines shortages and that has made clear what the obligations are on every part of the supply chain."

Medicine manufacturers were "very sensitive" to the situation in Greece and had continued to supply the country despite not being paid, he added.