An increase in the list of medicines that are subject to reference pricing should not happen quickly, the current issues must be resolved before adding new medicines.
Irakli Margvelashvili, Executive Director of Association of Pharmaceutical Companies Representatives,states.
In his words, at the first stage of introduction of reference pricing, there were many technical hindrances, but they were eliminated as a result of active cooperation with the Ministry of Health, in particular, with a special commission on the reference prices.
“The Associations had a lot of comments, but most of them have been resolved, and at this stage we do not see any risks of shortages. Until now, reference prices have been applied to a specific niche of medicines, however, in case of the list expansion, more questions will arise as the process is complex – I mean several thousand medicines to be added by the end of the year that will increase the amount of work. We have very fruitful relations with the Health Ministry," he notes.
Irakli Margvelashvili believes it is important to follow the process, which includes programmatic and technical issues.
As a reminder, the list of medicines, which are subject to reference pricing, has increased. According to the Ministry of Health, the upper limit of the price is determined for more than 1,600 chronic and oncological medicines.
