Various Alerts Received from the Pharmaceutical Market: Prime Minister to Arsen Torosyan

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a consultation meeting where the issues existing in the pharmaceutical market and possible solutions were discussed. Participants included heads of responsible agencies and representatives from the private sector operating in this field.

“We are receiving various alerts regarding the situation in the pharmaceutical market; the Audit Chamber has also raised concerns. Recently, through a government decision, we implemented certain regulations in this sector, hoping that we would resolve at least the majority of existing issues. The topic and purpose of today’s discussion is to understand which problems we have been able to solve with the latest regulations, which issues remain on our agenda, and what issues exist that are not on our agenda but would be beneficial to address,” stated Prime Minister Pashinyan.

During the discussion, particular attention was given to factors influencing drug prices, tax administration, issues of wholesale and retail sales of pharmaceuticals, possibilities for separating wholesale and retail activities, storage of drugs in customs warehouses, combating illegal circulation of pharmaceuticals, and other matters. A constructive exchange of ideas took place, with various observations and proposals presented regarding existing problems.

The Prime Minister instructed Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan to establish a platform for regular discussions with sector representatives on existing issues and their possible solutions related to the regulation of the pharmaceutical market. “The aim of our discussions is to reduce drug prices in the market. We should target price reduction as our goal, of course without compromising safety in any way,” summed up the head of the government, instructing Arsen Torosyan to report back on the results of the discussions after some time.