Health Minister: reference prices will be applied to additional 2,000 medicines in Georgia from next year
“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. Photo via Health Ministry
Tweet 
Share
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.
Pharmaceutical companies, importers, distributors and retailers of medical drugs will be prohibited from selling medicines at prices exceeding the reference set by authorities starting February 15, the Georgian Government announced on Monday.
The number of medicines sold through the system of reference pricing across Georgia has been increased to 2,300, the Government Administration announced on Thursday. The list now included antihypertensive, anticoagulant, antihistaminic, antibiotic, gastrointestinal, analgesic and anti-inflammatory drugs.
The average cost of about 800 medicines for chronic and oncological diseases will be reduced by 40 percent with the introduction of the reference pricing system starting today, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced on Wednesday.
The Georgian Health Ministry on Tuesday said large pharmacy companies “artificially” increasing prices on medicines not yet covered by reference price policy was “unacceptable”.
The Georgian National Competition Agency on Friday announced it had fined four pharmaceutical companies ₾53 million ($19 mln) for price-fixing on oncology medicines funded within the state programme.
Georgian Health Minister Zurab Azarashvili on Monday said the Ministry was ensuring “daily” monitoring of oncological and other medical drugs in the domestic pharmaceutical market, following the National Competition Agency’s fining of pharmacy networks last month for price-fixing.
The Ministry of Health on Wednesday said 10 centres for dialysis had been launched across Georgia this year to bring the service closer to patients.