Gov’t Commission authorised to set wholesale prices for pharmaceutical products

The Georgian Government’s Interagency Commission has been authorised to set wholesale prices for select pharmaceutical products by Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, in the latest move designed to effect a reduction of domestic costs of medication.

Citing “high public or state interest” in the mandate, the Government Administration said the Commission had also been allowed to regulate “other questions related to the market”, like terms and conditions for regulated costs, following “professional assessments”. 

The country’s Health Ministry has been instructed to publish the updated prices on its catalogue, with the regulated costs coming into effect in a month from its release.

The Commission is composed of officials from the ministries of health, economy and finance, the Revenue Service, the National Intellectual Property Centre, the National Statistics Service and the National Competition Agency, along with two independent members from the pharmacy sector.

Starting from February 15, pharmacies, importers, distributors and retailers of medical drugs have been prohibited from selling medicines at prices exceeding the reference set by authorities.

The PM said in January the reference prices were expected to reduce prices by 40 percent this year, and highlighted the effects of the launch of imports of medical drugs produced in Turkey starting last year. He noted the earlier move had decreased costs for cardiovascular and other medicines in the country by 60-80 percent.

• PM Garibashvili announces start of medication imports from Turkey to reduce local costs

Garibashvili initially announced the initiative of his team to ensure a reduction of general prices of pharmaceuticals on the Georgian market through imports from Turkey in late 2021, citing the considerable gap between the lower cost of the GMP-manufactured drugs on the Turkish market and their counterparts in Georgia.