Drug producers in Romania unhappy with new price methodology

Two local drug producer associations asked the Government to immediately repeal the Government Decision that sets the methodology for calculating the prices of medicines. The Romanian Association of International Drug Manufacturers (ARPIM) and the Romanian Association of Generic Drug Manufacturers (APMGR) asked Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos to intervene, reports local Economica.net. The bill with have “major negative effects” both on the producers and the patients, the drug producers say. According to APMGR general manager Laurentiu Mihai, the bill is only a modified version of the old provision. It keeps a double reference system for generic drugs, namely both the lowest price among 12 reference countries, as well as 65% of the innovative drug price. Thousands of drugs in Romania thus have prices below the sustainability level, Mihai argued. He added that, although the measure has been announced as a way to keep access to treatment, the new methodology will have an opposite effect. It will make cheap drugs disappear from the market and it will lead to others getting more expensive in pharmacies. editor@romania-insider.com