The Georgian Pharmacists Association warns that a decrease in the number of pharmacies across the country will adversely affect competition in the industry.
Levan Gogiberidze, President of the Association of Pharmacists, states that the anticipation of lower drug prices due to the reduced number of pharmacies is mistaken.
He believes that introducing certain rules could be counterproductive.
Primarily, it's essential to note that when we talk about pharmacy numbers, Georgia has already introduced reference pricing. In other words, the government sets a ceiling price for medications, beyond which no pharmacy, be it a large chain or a small independent pharmacy, can sell them for more than that.
As you know, it's been widely reported recently that two-thirds of the 10-11 thousand drugs on the Georgian market are already subject to reference pricing. Roughly, the Ministry is working on 3,000 medicinal products and this amount will probably be covered by the base price this year.
When pharmacies from several competing companies are located in the same district, they compete intensely in every aspect, including service quality, internal standards, and so on. But to definitively say that closing pharmacies will make medicines cheaper – I don't think so. On the contrary, a lack of competition will not cause price cuts," Levan Gogiberidze points out.
