Consequences of Mandatory Drug Pricing

The pharmaceutical industry has in recent months faced currency pressures, liquidity problems, rising production costs, and transportation disruptions.

According to Ambassador Arjan, for a patient who has to take medicine every day, lack of medicine is not just a word in official reports; Rather, it means searching in several pharmacies, worrying about continuing the treatment and sometimes being forced to use alternative medicine.

On the other side, there is a manufacturer who must provide raw materials, packaging, energy, wages, transportation and other production costs and deliver a product to the market whose price is under control.

In recent months, the pharmaceutical industry has faced currency pressures, liquidity problems, increased production costs, and disruptions in transportation. In such a situation, if the approved price of the drug does not correspond to the actual cost of production, the continued production of some items can become a loss-making activity. In this situation, companies may be forced to reduce the capacity or stop the production of some drugs, including vital drugs such as insulin, to reduce losses. A decision that can overshadow the patients' access to medicine and even, due to the shortage, the life and mental safety of the society.

In this situation, by attracting the attention of foreign media, in addition to creating public dissatisfaction, the efforts and sacrifices of this industry during difficult conditions such as the Ramadan war will be ignored. Of course, drug shortage is not limited to one factor and the problems of currency supply, liquidity, production and distribution also play a role in it. However, pricing out of proportion to real costs can increase production pressure. On the other hand, increasing the value of the drug market does not necessarily mean increasing the profits of the companies; Because part of it is caused by inflation and the growth of replacement costs.

In this situation, keeping the drug price low at any cost is not necessarily in the patient's interest, and perhaps this is considered contrary to the Martyr Nizam leader's recommendations to support domestic production. A cheap drug cannot meet the patient's need if it is not available due to uneconomical production. The solution is targeted pricing based on real production costs, along with strengthening insurance coverage, reducing patient out-of-pocket payments, and timely payment of pharmaceutical companies' claims.

Supporting patients and maintaining the stability of drug production are two complementary goals in pharmaceutical policy. Achieving these goals requires that, while controlling the costs paid by patients, the necessary economic conditions for the continuation of production and stable supply of medicine are also provided.