Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

The state regulation of prices for medicines and the resulting cost cuts will have a positive impact on all sectors of the economy, said member of the parliamentary committee on economic policy Ali Masimli on September 7.

“The price reduction will lead to the fact that residents will be able to promptly acquire the medicines they need. When a person is healthy, it improves his/her performance, and a high level of performance increases productivity. This is an important driving force of economic development of any country,” said Masimli.

The MP said that in general, the regulations of prices for medical products by the state is an important social project, as this is an integral part of public health policy, particularly for elderly residents of Azerbaijan.

“As is known, the elderly spend most of their salaries, and if they do not work, then their pensions go to the purchase of medicines. The state regulation of medicine prices would lead to a noticeable decrease in the prices of a large number of essential medicines, which will have a positive impact on the family budget of the needy part of the population of Azerbaijan,” Masimli said.

“The country has a lot of families, for whom the price of a medicine over 10-15 manats is very high, and they cannot afford to buy the medicines, which affects their health. Lower prices will have a positive impact on the budget of these families and their health,” he stressed.

Masimli noted that further expansion of the list of medicines that are regulated by the state depends on the work of existing mechanisms.

“If this mechanism will work successfully, we can assume that by the year end, the list of medicines that are regulated by the state will expand. I believe that this process should continue in the future, even if the initial results will be below expectations. Even a negative result is a result. Negative results will help to optimize the mechanism and improve it in the future to have a positive effect,” said the deputy.

Touching upon the decline in interest of a number of suppliers to import medicines to Azerbaijan due to cheaper prices, Masimli noted that the market economy is a mechanism by which those who do not want to sell any of the products because of low revenues are affected by it themselves.

“If some vendors do not want to import products from the fact that their incomes reduce, they will eventually lose their place in the market, as these medicines will be bought from those who would bring them, as trite it may sound. As a result, instead of a certain, albeit low, income, these suppliers will suffer losses,” he said, noting that he sees no need for a unified supply chain of medicines in Azerbaijan.

The Tariff Council of Azerbaijan adopted the mechanism for calculating the price of medicines in June. It determines of prices for medicines that have passed state registration and includes methods for calculating the wholesale and retail prices for these medicines.

The Tariff Council chooses to base prices by referencing at least five out of 10 countries selected for review. Among them are Turkey, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovenia. To determine the cost of the medicines, the Council will rely on the lowest price established in these countries.

Wholesale and retail drug prices will be determined using this method. After pricing, importers will be able to import drugs into the country, which will then be distributed to pharmacies.

The approved prices for 1,057 medicines for 25 active substances, from 4,500 names of medicines that passed the state registration in Azerbaijan, excluding combined medicines, will enter into force starting September 15.

The Azerbaijan Economic Development Ministry will control observance of the established prices.

Member of Parliament Tahir Rzayev also believes the State regulation of prices for pharamceuticals is an important issue.

Rzayev said that such a move will improve the welfare of the population, as people will buy medicines at more affordable prices than ever before, and will be able to direct the remaining funds for other needs.

Many companies in Azerbaijan are already selling medicines at lower prices approved by the Tariff Council, without waiting until September 15, said Parviz Azizbayov, the head of the medicines quality control inspection of the Analytic Examination Center at the Health Ministry of Azerbaijan.

He added that the September 15 price regulation should not cause concerns of a shortage of medicines in pharmacies .

“There are 1,057 medicine names produced in various countries of 25 active substances. If any of them is not available in the pharmacy, customers can buy another medicine with the same composition and the same active substance. This would eliminate the shortage of medicines on the market. The patient consulted with the doctor may acquire medicine of other production with the same composition,” said Azizbayov.

The view that the implementation of this decision will open access to poor-quality medicines to the market of the country is unreasonable, he added.

“Certificate of state registration is the guarantee of the quality of the medicine. If the medicine is included in the state register, no problem can occur. Companies and importers will try to import more high-quality medicines and thereby make big profits,” said Azizbayov.

He went on to say that the implementation of the new solution would create additional opportunities for the Health Ministry to combat collusion between doctors and pharmaceutical companies.

“The Health Ministry has always struggled with such cases. In order to eliminate them, representatives of companies are banned from entering medical facilities during business hours. Price regulation is very important for consumers, as all pharmacies will sell medicines at uniform prices. That is, the patient will not be sent to some specific pharmacy. The prices are listed on the website of the Tariff Council, the Health Ministry and the Ministry of Economy and Industry. The patient before the acquisition of medication may obtain information about its price. This, in turn, will ensure public control,” he noted.

Azizbayov added that according to a memorandum of understanding signed between the Analytical Examination Centre of the State Service for Antimonopoly Policy and Consumer Protection under the Economy and Industry Ministry starting, both organizations, will take joint measures to control prices starting September 15. These measures will be carried out before and after the regulation of prices for all medicines.

Moreover, medicines with a margin of sale at 300-500 percent above cost will be confiscated from the pharmaceutical market of Azerbaijan, the Analytical Examination Center reported on September 8.

As the Tariff Council will gradually approve the prices for medicines registered in the country, they will be sold at standardized prices throughout the country, the Center said.

As a result of the price controls the price of 46 percent of the medicines have already been cut by more than half, and 24 percent of medicines by more than three times.

The center noted that, since the beginning of this year, pharmaceutical imports have grown Azerbaijan compared to the same period last year.

It was stressed that all the medicines that pass registration in Azerbaijan have the same high quality.

__

Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz