The approach to regulating the prices of medicines should be balanced and take into account the interests of all market participants, from manufacturers to pharmacy chains. This was stated by Tetiana Kotlyar, Head of the All-Ukrainian Pharmaceutical Union "Farmukraina", at a meeting of the Committee on National Health, writes UNN.
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On Friday, at a meeting of the relevant committee, the Verkhovna Rada presented the concept of changes in the regulation of the pharmaceutical market. The Ministry of Health's proposals included reducing the price of medicines through electronic trading between manufacturers, limiting the amount of discounts, and banning retro bonuses. However, not all proposals were supported by the MPs and those invited to the EBA meeting. As a result, the committee agreed to develop a new draft law that would systematically regulate the functioning of the pharmaceutical market, ensuring the availability of quality medicines for Ukrainians.
Tetyana Kotlyar emphasized that regulating only wholesale and retail margins does not ensure full control over pricing, as 70% of the cost of medicines is formed by manufacturers. She called for a systematic approach to price regulation that would take into account all stages of price formation.
We must take into account and understand that there are objective reasons for price increases for manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies. But at the same time, when we regulate the margin, only the wholesale and pharmacy margins, it does not give the same price control as in the reimbursement program, as in the public procurement program, where the manufacturer's price is actually referenced, and then the margin is added. So let's work on this, so that all three parts of the retail price are regulated,
The head of the All-Ukrainian Pharmaceutical Union also opposed the ban on retrobonuses, because there are situations when they become a necessity.
As an example, medicines may be rejected, medicines may be banned by the State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Drugs Control. There are medicines that require laboratory testing, which costs a thousand euros. And the manufacturer compensates for this. And this is very good. This is also for the same patients, so the entity that is compensated does not need to include this in the price. I would also like to draw attention to reimbursement. There are drugs that are included in the list, and then the manufacturer adjusts its price accordingly, which is available from suppliers, the same distributors, the same pharmacies
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Borys Danevych, Co-Chair of the Healthcare Committee at the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, also commented on the changes to the pharmaceutical market regulation proposed by the Ministry of Health. He thanked the Ministry of Health for a more balanced approach compared to previous proposals, but called for a balanced approach in developing new legislative initiatives.