Ostap Tender

The pharmaceutical market in Russia is one of the most criminalized, said the head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service Igor Artemyev on the air of Vesti. Prices for the same medicines sold under different names can vary 160 times.

“If we take, for example, the known to all no -shpa. The chemical formula of matter itself, it is exactly the same, no -shpa is called or drotaverin, another 30 names of the same no -shpa are different trade names. The difference at the prices officially registered by state bodies is 12 times. And in some cases 160 times,” said the head of the FAS.

According to Artemyev, organized crime operates in Russia in the field of drug sale. "We are talking about the existence of thousands of cartels in medicines, we are talking about almost all tenders undergoing violations, we are talking about organized crime in this area - by the way, we are the first to talk about it - and we are confident that we have high prices for this reason - this is a conspiracy," he said.

On July 14, President Vladimir Putin instructed the heads of regions to take control of the pricing policy when purchasing medicines due to theiralmost two-fold rise in price . "This year, by serious work with manufacturers of drugs, we managed to significantly reduce prices for domestic drugs, those that began to be produced in a full cycle. Saving the federal budget resources amounted to 1.5 billion rubles," said the head of the Ministry of Health Veronika Skvortsova.

A similar situation, she added, and with antiretroviral drugs for HIV treatment. "In a number of positions on domestic drugs, prices fell 2.5 - 3.5 times. And in general, the cost of drugs decreased by 40 percent compared to last year," Skvortsova said. According to her, she reported these data to Putin at a meeting with government members.

“We are forced to state, unfortunately, that the cost of an annual course of drugs for federal purchases is almost twice lower than what the regions purchase,” the minister noted. “Thus, today the president has instructed all governors of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and mayors to take special control of the drug support for the regions, pricing policies during procurement.”