Pharmaceutical Market on the Brink of Change. Media Investigate Whether New Regulation Rules are Clear-Cut.

The new regulations on drug prices may lead to the closure of pharmacies and a shortage of medications. The decision to reduce prices for 100 popular Ukrainian drugs by 30% was made at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council. The maximum markup for pharmacies will be 35%, while distributors will not be able to add more than 8% to the price. Authorities claim that this decision makes medicines more accessible, but pharmacy networks are concerned that it could lead to shortages and the closure of many pharmacies. Representatives of the pharmacy professional association emphasize that the new markup limitation rules may result in a decrease in the number of products in pharmacies and create a shortage.

'Such price regulation by limiting markups will lead to the disappearance of certain types of medications from pharmacy networks. Some pharmacy chains will start to close down because they will not be able to maintain profitability. This will further increase the monopolization of the market and, consequently, prices may turn out to be significantly higher than they are now,' noted economic expert Borys Kushnirok.