Health Minister: reference prices will be applied to additional 2,000 medicines in Georgia from next year

Health Minister Zurab Azarashvili on Thursday said reference prices on medical drugs would be applied to additional 2,000 medicines in Georgia, starting next year.

In an interview with Imedi TV channel, Azarashvili noted over 5,000 medicines had already been included in the initial list to be sold through reference prices, which constituted “more than half of the pharmaceutical market”.

He explained the purpose of establishing reference prices was to control and prevent “unfair prices” on drugs, increase access to medicines and reduce “out-of-pocket payments” for citizens.

All our reforms are aimed at taking care of our people. Accordingly, even in the reform of chronic medicines, wherever possible, we are trying to further improve access to medicines for our citizens”, the Minister emphasised.

Aside from expanding the list of reference-priced medicines for chronic diseases, the budget for the chronic illness programme is also “significantly increasing” to ensure supplying medicines to pensioners and other vulnerable groups throughout the year, Azarashvili said, adding this reform would refer to about 400,000 people, with around ₾60 million (about $22.3 mln) allocated for the programme.