ArmInfo. The Strong Armenia faction will present a legislative initiative in the Armenian parliament providing for simplified registration of drugs registered in the European Union (EU). Narek Karapetyan, head of the Strong Armenia parliamentary faction, announced this at a press conference in Yerevan on October 16.
According to him, the initiative is aimed at developing competition in the pharmaceutical market, reducing drug costs, and expanding citizens' access to quality medications. As a result, the politician noted, the cost of medications should decrease by 20%. Speaking about why they decided to put forward such a proposal, Karapetyan said that their research revealed that a significant portion of citizens are forced to choose between purchasing medications and food. "This problem is especially acute in regions where there is a shortage of jobs. "Medicines in Armenia are significantly more expensive than in neighboring countries—Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iran, and Russia—as well as in European countries," the faction leader noted.
He explained that one of the main reasons for the high cost of drugs is the restrictions in place in Armenia regarding their registration. According to him, international pharmaceutical corporations must pay millions of drams to register each drug and then wait about six months for the procedure to be completed. "Due to the small size of the Armenian market, companies are often uninterested in undergoing this procedure, resulting in many drugs not being registered in the country," Karapetyan noted.
As a result, he said, just under 4,000 drugs are registered in Armenia, while most European countries have around 25,000. Speaking about their cost, he noted that the diabetes medication Metformin costs 920 drams in Georgia, but 1,700 drams in Armenia; the cholesterol-lowering drug Rosulip costs 2,800 drams in Georgia, but 5,600 drams in Armenia; the antibiotic Amoxiclav costs 2,400 drams in Georgia, but 4,100 drams in Armenia; and so on. That is, as the politician noted, almost all European medications are several times more expensive in Armenia than in Georgia. "From 150 to 200 new drugs are registered in the Republic every year. If this rate continues, it will take Armenia about 100 years to reach the levels of European countries," the politician believes.
As a solution, Karapetyan explained, their faction proposes allowing the registration of drugs already registered in the European Union in Armenia, based on a documentary examination within seven days, and setting a registration fee of 50,000 drams. According to Karapetyan, implementing this initiative will solve several problems at once. "European drugs undergo strict standardization, and their cost on the European market is half that in Armenia. Simplifying registration should reduce the shadow trade in drugs. Currently, citizens often ask friends to bring drugs from Europe or Russia, which means additional taxes are not collected by the Armenian budget. "After the registration of such drugs, their official supply to the country will reduce prices and provide additional tax revenue to the budget," the politician said.
Furthermore, he said, the initiative will allow the state to save tens of billions of drams within the insurance system. Reducing the cost of drugs, he added, will enable the state to cover more citizens with insurance. "The bill has already been submitted to parliament. The Strong Armenia faction currently intends to begin discussing it with other parliamentary factions. Overall, our political force plans to gradually implement all five previously presented economic projects. By doing so, we want to demonstrate that even without being in power, we intend to fulfill all our promises to the fullest extent possible. We have only a year and four months to implement this initiative," Karapetyan concluded.
