Drug importers plead for delay on new prices

WITH the deadline for the enforcement of cheaper pharmaceutical prices looming on March 1, drug importers are calling for a delay of at least three months, in order to get rid of their stocks, estimated to be worth £10 million, in addition to another £10 million of fixed orders. They claim that they cannot renegotiate wholesale prices with factories unless the government gives them the exact price at which each medicine will be sold, something which has not yet been done.

Sotos Jacovides, President of the Cyprus Association of Pharmaceutical Companies, said that the government announced on December 9 that medicine prices would be slashed by an average of 25 per cent, after conducting a study in co-operation with the London School of Economics.

However, “the new indicative prices were not received by pharmaceutical importers until January 12. These prices were sent to the manufacturers, who said that there were mistakes in the new prices calculated by the government, resulting in the pharmaceutical industry objecting to several of the prices.”

Iacovides added that the importers were still waiting for the indicative prices to be finalised by the Ministry of Health, “so how can we implement the price changes?” He said that importers represent only 15 per cent of the pricing system, with manufacturers accounting for 60 per cent.
“We have a strong will to co-operate with the Ministry of Health and to keep all products in the market, but it is not up to us. We need to work in conjunction with the manufacturers, who are the owners of the medicines. It is the manufacturers who will decide under what conditions they will sell their products in the Cyprus market.”

Importers had previously warned that the government’s decision to slash the prices of most major drugs would not only hurt their profit margins, but leave Cyprus with a short supply of medicines.

Eighty per cent of the population in Cyprus are eligible for free medicines but many patients choose to go to the private sector, which means that, in reality, the market is split 50/50.

Government Spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides a week ago said negotiations regarding price changes in pharmaceutical products were going smoothly ahead of their enforcement.

The House Health Committee is meeting today to discuss whether the new prices should be implemented or whether to delay the move.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.