Though Tariff Council Suggests Reducing Drug Prices, This Is Not Done Practically

On December 25 the Tariff Council announced a review of the prices of 3,540 names of drugs "with the new exchange rate of the manat," the Tariff Council reported.

The meeting also approved the rates for 1,510 other drugs for the first time.

New prices for 3,661 drugs come into effect from December 26 and those for 1,389 drugs - from February 25 next year, the report says.

According to the Tariff Council, in spite of the devaluation of the manat, the prices of 21% of the medicines decreased more than twofold this year and the prices of 9% dropped three times.

At the same time, the prices of 40% of the medicines rose by 30% due to the exchange rate of the manat, the report says.

The link to the table of medicines and their prices is at www.tariff.gov.az.

Note that since the devaluation and the government’s attempts to control prices, many drugs have disappeared from pharmacies. At the same time, the prices are rising, which is considered normal by the owners of pharmacies and drug distributors due to the AZN devaluation. "Almost 100% of the drugs sold in pharmacies are imported from abroad. How in this case could the price in manats remain the same, if the national currency has fallen by almost 50%?" the owner of a pharmacy said in an interview with Turan. He also noted that attempts by the state to cut prices after the first devaluation in February had caused the disappearance of many drugs. -02D-