Drug manufacturers have shifted what they used to pay pharmacies to the state and patients. The ban on marketing agreements allowed them not only to avoid additional costs, but also to increase profits - without lowering selling prices, UNN writes.
The decision to ban marketing agreements between drug manufacturers and pharmacies, which came into force on March 1, 2025, was intended to reduce drug prices. But instead of the promised "justice for the patient", the market received a new wave of price increases for all drugs that were not included in the so-called TOP 100 list from the Ministry of Health.
At the same time, manufacturers who lobbied for the relevant decision received up to UAH 500 million in net profit, because they no longer spend money on marketing agreements with pharmacies, and they covered discounts on drugs from the TOP 100 list by raising prices for other drugs.
Even deputies of the relevant parliamentary committee say that these funds have settled "in the pockets" of pharmaceutical giants. According to Yuriy Zaslavskyi, a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Health, manufacturers have stopped paying 40-60% for marketing, but at the same time, selling prices have not changed - and in some cases have even increased by 2-2.5 times.
If we are fair, then after the ban on marketing, manufacturers no longer need to pay these 60%. They should have lowered their prices. Even if this marketing was banned for two months, then, please, for two months, take away this added value that you put into the cost of medicines. But they, of course, did not do this
At the same time, it is worth noting that drug manufacturers pay the least amount of taxes among the entire pharmaceutical industry. According to the State Tax Service, in 2024, domestic pharmaceutical plants paid a little more than UAH 4.5 billion in taxes. For comparison, pharmacies paid almost a billion more (UAH 5.4 billion), and distributors - twice as much (UAH 9.7 billion).
This is despite the fact that manufacturers account for 72% of the cost of medicines, and their income is estimated in billions. Thus, in 2024, the income of "Farmak" amounted to UAH 10.7 billion, "Darnitsa" - UAH 6.8 billion, "Arterium" - UAH 5.2 billion, and "Interchem" - UAH 1.2 billion.
Paying the least amount of taxes with this level of income looks not only strange, but also raises legitimate suspicions that factories may be using "schemes" to reduce the tax burden. Such assumptions are confirmed by law enforcement officers, who conducted searches at pharmaceutical plants in late February, in particular on the territory of "Darnitsa", "Farmak" and "Arterium".
According to information from the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office, the searches were conducted as part of a criminal investigation into the misappropriation of state and budget funds by officials of pharmaceutical manufacturers.
According to the investigation, officials of pharmaceutical companies, probably in collusion with a distributor from the western region, sold medicines to state medical institutions at inflated prices, and then legalized the funds. As a result of the actions, the budget suffered losses in the amount of UAH 3.15 million. This amount looks modest against the background of the billions of dollars in income of the defendants.
Instead of conclusions
The ban on marketing agreements between manufacturers and retailers is declared as a "victory for patients." But while pharmacies are losing profitability and are forced to close their points, factories are increasing their profits. However, what is important is that the main beneficiary of the regulation of the pharmaceutical market is not patients, but drug manufacturers.