“Prices will fall, but medicines will disappear with them” – business about the new law
14 February 14:08
While President Zelenskyy has pledged to reduce drug prices, businesses claim that some drugs may disappear from pharmacy shelves altogether. Thus, the European Business Association (EBA) has announced a possible destabilization of the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market due to the adoption of Bill No. 11493 by the Verkhovna Rada. Experts warn that the new rules could lead to the withdrawal of some medicines from circulation and worsen their availability to patients, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.
Three problems
According to the EBA, the draft law adopted on February 12 in the second reading contains three key problematic provisions.
- The introduction of a “national catalog” for all medicines without exception. Medicines for which manufacturers are unable to meet the price cap requirements will not be included in the catalog and will not be able to be sold. The EBA emphasizes that this may lead to a decrease in the availability of a significant amount of internationally produced medicines. It is especially problematic that the requirements are set even for drugs that are not financed from the state budget.
- Introduction of a “quota” for the distribution of medicines. International manufacturers cooperate only with trusted importers and distributors who are guaranteed to comply with the quality and safety requirements for medicines. New restrictions could disrupt these well-established supply chains.
- Limiting the size of the supply and sales margin to 8%. The EBA notes that such a limit does not take into account the different financial models of international manufacturing companies and can become a significant barrier to doing business.
“The stable supply of medicines for Ukrainian patients, which was ensured in the most difficult period of time due to the consolidation of state and business efforts – during the first months of the full-scale invasion – is unfortunately now under threat,”
– the statement reads.
The EBA experts emphasize that the affordability of medicines is a complex issue that cannot be solved by artificially limiting supplies. Instead of the expected price reduction, the new law may lead to the physical inaccessibility of medicines for patients.
The European Business Association called on the President of Ukraine to veto the draft law, emphasizing that the proposed changes do not bring regulation closer to European standards and will negatively affect medicines from international manufacturers, the main investors in the healthcare sector of Ukraine.
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How Zelensky wants to reduce drug prices in Ukraine
In February of this year, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy decided to reduce the price of medicines for citizens. He saw that prices in pharmacies were too high and instructed the government to solve this problem.
on February 4, the National Security and Defense Council’s decision “On further implementation of support programs for Ukrainians based on guaranteeing the economic stability of the state and strengthening measures to clean up the financial system of Ukraine” was put into effect. on February 4, President Zelenskyy put this decision into effect by decree.
This decision instructed the Cabinet of Ministers, in particular
“to analyze the pricing of medicines together with the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine and take measures to ensure their affordability for Ukrainians, providing for the introduction of mechanisms to counteract the use of non-transparent pricing mechanisms, abuse of monopoly position and manifestations of unlawful restriction of competition, concerted actions and concentration in the pharmaceutical market.”
on February 10, Zelenskyy, in his traditional video address, reported on a meeting held with the participation of government leaders, which also addressed the issue of drug prices. According to the President, prices are absolutely inadequate and pharmacy chains and manufacturers should provide more comfortable conditions for customers. He announced that the National Security and Defense Council is preparing a meeting on this issue and very specific proposals aimed at reducing prices in the interests of people are being worked out.
The Ministry of Health has proposals on how to reduce prices
At the end of January, the Ministry of Healthcare held a discussion with all parties involved in the problem on how to improve state regulation of prices for medicines. For example, the Ministry proposes to introduce the Prozorro Market e-catalog as a tool for determining the indicative price of medicines. This will allow pharmacy chains to procure medicines at competitive prices, and patients to be sure that an affordable drug is always available. talked about it.
According to the new rules, all pharmacies selling medicines from the National List will be obliged to have in their assortment the drug with the lowest price determined through requests for proposals in Prozorro Market. Such requests will be made at least once a year.
Other important changes include updating the rules for advertising and promotion of medicines in accordance with EU directives. The Ministry of Health proposes to introduce the concept of “good promotional practice” to help prevent manipulation of consumers.
