“Manipulation under the guise of reform: how “Darnitsa” hides behind the fight against the “pharmaceutical mafia”The pharmaceutical company “Darnitsa” has launched a campaign against the “pharmaceutical mafia”, accusing pharmacies of
overpricing medicines. However, research shows that it is the manufacturers, including “Darnitsa”, that have increased prices.”, — write: unn.ua
However, if one carefully examines the situation, it gives the impression that the loud PR campaign is rather an attempt by “Darnitsa” to impose its own rules of the game on the pharmaceutical market, than a genuine step towards patients. While the industry is experiencing turbulence, “Darnitsa” is trying to direct public attention to pharmacy chains, avoiding discussions about its own pricing policy.
In reality, instead of lowering the release prices of drugs for the patient, “Darnitsa” decided to completely monopolize the market, incidentally blaming pharmacies for everything. The plant launched a large-scale campaign about the necessity of banning marketing agreements, claiming that they pay 60% of the drug’s cost to pharmacies “for shelf space.”
In reality, talk about drug prices reaching sky-high levels began at the end of 2024. Because since the beginning of autumn, manufacturers, having clearly colluded with “Darnitsa”, have artificially inflated them. This was even admitted in one of her interviews by the Director of the Board of Directors of the pharmaceutical company “Darnitsa”, Kateryna Zahoriy. She stated that the company increased drug prices by 120%.
A careful reader might ask why manufacturers are blamed for inflated prices, and not pharmacies, to whom patients give their money? It’s simple – it is the factories that form 72% of the drug’s cost, while pharmacies, like distributors who supply drugs, have fixed markups. That is, even if they wanted to, pharmacies cannot jump above the level permitted by law..
So let’s get back to marketing.
Poster revolution instead of genuine price reductionAt the beginning of 2025, “Darnitsa” began to promote the narrative “enough feeding the pharmacy oligarchy.” It managed to convince the authorities that pharmacies were to blame for high drug prices and pushed through the government a ban on pharmacies entering into marketing agreements with manufacturers. Recall, manufacturers allegedly had to pay 60% of retail marketing. Kateryna Zahoriy herself confirmed that it was “Darnitsa” that launched the process of reforming the pharmaceutical market.
The ban came into force on March 1 and… predictably, no miracle happened. Drug prices did not decrease in March, nor in April, nor in May, nor in June. At the same time, pharmacy and distributor markups, which could have been blamed for the high cost of drugs, remained limited by law.
And what happened? Instead of reducing the cost of drugs by the declared 60%, which manufacturers paid to pharmacies, factories continued to sell drugs at old prices. It turns out “Darnitsa” simply deceived the state or has been quietly pocketing the savings for almost four months.
Government offices also saw that the marketing ban did not yield the expected results and drug prices did not decrease by at least the projected 30%. Therefore, they began searching for alternative ways to regulate the pharmaceutical market.
Currently, a draft government resolution is being developed, which is intended to establish percentage limits on marketing. The main confrontation is between factories, represented by “Darnitsa,” and pharmacies.
Manufacturers managed to lobby for regulation of OTC (over-the-counter) drugs, which is almost non-existent anywhere else in the world. The universally accepted international practice is to regulate only Rx (prescription) drugs.
Factories continue to insist that the return of marketing will lead to a price surge. But now it is clear – because no one controls the release prices of manufacturers, factories can indeed raise them again and “offload” everything onto pharmacies.
Representatives of pharmacy chains explain that marketing agreements allowed them to offer discounts to patients, and also, thanks to these payments, various social programs operated, including mobile pharmacies, especially in frontline territories. At the same time, according to pharmacies, before the complete ban, marketing was less than 20%, while manufacturers claim they paid up to 60%.
They outsmarted themselvesWhile Ukrainians continue to complain about high drug prices, the company “Darnitsa” complains that pharmacies have started buying fewer of its products. The company saw this as a “conspiracy” and “boycott.”
In fact, the opposite happened: pharmacies started promoting brands that ensured patient accessibility and choice. And if “Darnitsa’s” sales dropped by 30% – the issue is not with the pharmacies, but with the company itself: what is wrong with your product and its cost?
In addition, as explained by the CEO of the “Podorozhnyk” pharmacy chain, Taras Kolyada, the reason for the drop in sales of “Darnitsa” products is simple – due to the new regulation, it is not profitable for pharmacies to purchase large batches of goods in advance. “From March 1, we followed the state’s recommendations – to provide the buyer with access to cheaper analogues. This, not “squeezing out,” affected “Darnitsa’s” sales. Because if there is an equivalent drug at a lower price – people choose it themselves. It’s simple. Previously, we kept stocks of “Darnitsa” products for 90–130 days. This was economically justified within marketing contracts. Now it’s not. Without bonuses and incentives, it is simply unprofitable to maintain such volumes. We are not refusing cooperation with the brand, but building it on equal terms – as with other manufacturers,” he wrote on his page on Facebook.
A real pharmaceutical reform should include an audit of the pricing practices of manufacturers, who are currently the only ones in the drug supply chain whose markups are not controlled. A drug with a production cost of UAH 8-10 is released from the factory for UAH 40-70.
Recent events have also shown that there is a dire need to create fair competition, rather than an artificial “moral war” with pharmacies and manipulative statements about protecting patient interests.
What “Darnitsa” is doing is not a revolution. It is an attempt to shed its costs, maintain super-profits, and gain even more control over the market. Now, drug prices are rising, and the company is complaining about falling sales. Therefore, there is an obvious question for “Darnitsa”: was this adventure worthwhile?