Medicines that are not yet subjected to reference prices sold in pharmacies 32-times more expensive than the import price. In some cases, with a markup of 1000%, 2000% and 3000%.

It’s also worth mentioning that medications in big pharmacy chains have nearly identical pricing. Excessive markup and price collusion suggest a reasonable suspicions of dishonest agreements among pharmaceutical companies and misuse of dominant market positions.

A deliberate increase of medicine prices is intolerable for the Ministry of Health. The sector’s imposition of unjust prices and unhealthy competition is detrimental to citizens, prioritizing profit over their well-being. It is obvious that genuine price determination is absent and fair competition is constrained due to established agreements among major market players.

The pricing policies employed by large pharmaceutical companies resemble characteristics associated with cartel deals. Therefore, the Ministry of Health intends to apply to the National Competition Agency and provide them with all necessary documentation for comprehensive investigation of this issue.

In order to inform the public, we would like to elucidate that in the near future the state will establish fair reference prices (the upper price limit) for these medicines. Sales exceeding set price limit will be prohibited.