The Ministry of Health proposes to release prices for drugs up to 30 rubles

The Russian Ministry of Health is ready to discuss the possibility of conducting an experiment to deregulate prices on the cheapest medicines costing up to 30 rubles from the list of vital and essential drugs (VED), said the head of the department, Veronika Skvortsova.

"We wouldn't object to piloting the deregulation of prices for the lowest segment – not 50, but 30 rubles – in order to observe over several months whether the situation changes in any way, and if it won't negatively impact buyers," Skvortsova said.

According to the minister, prices for medicines in the segment up to 50 rubles have increased by only 1.1% since January of this year, which, in her opinion, does not create a tense situation for consumers overall.

"For the population, it is actually desirable that this (decision) is not made, because purchasing power has decreased, and we are now observing a situation where elderly people sometimes travel from one end of the city to the other to save 40 kopecks on some pills. Understanding this, we are against prices rising," emphasized the head of the Health Ministry.

In February 2016, according to the FAS, domestic pharmaceutical companies halted production of 197 drug names in the price segment up to 50 rubles. This situation, the agency explained, arose due to low profitability and loss-making production resulting from increased costs of raw materials and supplies.

Furthermore, in April, Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a direct line, instructed the government to decide on measures to support Russian producers of cheap medicines from the list of vital and essential drugs (VED) by June 15, 2016.