Media: prices for cheap drugs in Russia can grow by 15%

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The Government of the Russian Federation plans to change the order of pricing for low-price pharmaceuticals from January 1, 2018.

It is planned to change the regulation of prices for vitally important and important medicinal preparations for less than 50 rubles in favor of producers. The price can be set on them in accordance with the situation on the market, which will allow it to increase it more than the level of inflation.

The issue is being worked out by the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Federal Antimonopoly Service. According to experts, prices as a result may rise by 15%.

"It is necessary to accelerate the transition to reference pricing for medicines (when the price is calculated on the basis of market data, rather than the maximum selling prices of producers), and this will determine the fair price for all medicines within the same international name," the Ministry of Industry and Trade stated.

Noting that the ministry is responsible for introducing reference pricing, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Federal Antimonopoly Service are also working on the issue.

The Ministry of Health stressed that before making the transition to the reference pricing, it is necessary to give it a clear definition. Earlier, the department opposed changing the order of pricing for cheap vital and important medicines due to the risk of higher prices and reduced availability of drugs to consumers, Izvestia writes.

As the Internet portal "Kuban 24" wrote, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on December 29 said that he had approved a new list of essential medicines for 2017.