Health Minister Viktor Lyashko warns that the Antimonopoly Committee will initiate cases for price manipulations on medicines, while the Ministry of Health will review licenses for retail and wholesale trade of pharmaceuticals.
According to the Ministry of Health's Telegram channel, the minister made this statement during an interview on a telethon at the end of last week.
"We have warned everyone that if there are manipulations, there will be corresponding cases initiated both by the AMCU for violating antimonopoly legislation and by us as the regulator that issues licenses for retail and wholesale trading," he said.
Lyashko stated that after the formation of the national catalog of retail prices, the Ministry of Health will introduce a requirement in the licensing conditions for pharmacies, "that one of the three cheapest medications must always be available to each licensee."
Lyashko noted that currently "there is a distribution of the market that is being closely and meticulously monitored by the AMCU, which has already begun certain investigations."
In particular, according to Lyashko, five pharmacy chain brands currently account for 35% of all retail sales points, while these five pharmacy brands represent 75% of the total sales volume in monetary terms.
As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers, in accordance with the relevant decision of the National Security and Defense Council, has limited the maximum trade markup for pharmacies to no more than 35% for over-the-counter medications and established a regressive scale for prescription drugs.