Russian government to regulate prices for essential drugs

30 July 2013. The Russian government is considering tightening its pricing policy in the domestic market for essential drugs, with the aim of preventing unreasonable price rises for them in the future. According to the Russian Ministry of Health, it is planned that ceiling prices for foreign essential drugs sold in Russia will not exceed the average European prices for the same types of drugs.

 

In addition, the producers and sellers of such drugs will not be able to raise prices for such drugs at their own wish. 

The implementation of the project is personally controlled by Russia’s first Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, who has already instructed the country’s Federal Antimonopoly Service and the Ministry of Health to conduct checks in the Russian regions with the aim to evaluate the rate of availability of vital drugs to local populations and the level of competition in the market. 

Following the checks, the government plans to determine the mechanisms for further reducing prices for drugs in the country and to stimulate competition. 

In the meantime, leading Western drug producers operating in the Russian market have already criticized the new state initiative, saying that it will result in the decline of supplies of expensive high-quality drugs to the Russian market and the influx of cheap Chinese and Indian products.