The Georgian Health Ministry prepared legislative changes to strengthen control over the pharmaceutical market on March 26, the head of the ministry, Zurab Azarashvili, told reporters.
“With these changes we strengthen the role of the ministry as regulator and comptroller, so that, if necessary, there is a prompt response”– said Azarashvili.
According to the minister, this decision was made after cases of price increases by pharmaceutical companies were revealed.
Azarashvili also spoke about the annual limit for cancer patients, which at this stage is 25 thousand lari, adding that the ministry wants to remove this limit in order to fully cover the costs of medicines and operations needed by cancer patients.
According to him, the pharmaceutical companies agreed on two occasions to coordinate the increase in the prices of medicines.
“This happened for the first time after February 15, when we set reference prices for some medicines. We immediately contacted the antitrust authority and the prices returned to the previous level. This happened for the second time since March 15, when reference prices for another 300 drugs went into effect. It turned out that various market players set the same price for expensive cancer drugs.said the minister.
The Georgia Association of Pharmaceutical Companies responded that cancer treatment drugs in Georgia have increased in price due to an increase in purchase price in Turkey.
Recall that in 2022, the Georgian authorities decided to open the Georgian pharmaceutical market to Turkish pharmaceutical companies in order to reduce the prices of medicines.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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