Regulation should be comprehensive: the Council indicated that manufacturers should also be responsible for drug prices

Despite statements about lower drug prices, the cost of a significant number of drugs that were not included in the lists for price reduction has increased – in some cases up to 30%. People’s deputies from the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Health in comments to UNN stressed that this is a disturbing signal and prices need to be regulated through the efforts of all participants in the pharmaceutical market, and not only through restrictions for pharmacies and distributors. 

DetailsUNN journalists conducted a drug price monitoring as of April. As it turned out, the price of drugs such as “Valavir”, “Betaspan”, “Urolesan”, “Darsil” and others shows a steady increase from January to April 2025. The average price increase was about 13.5%, and for some items the increase reaches 20-30%. 

People’s Deputy Oksana Dmytrieva noted that the rise in drug prices at a time when the Government is talking about lower prices is a very alarming signal that requires in-depth analysis.

In the process of lowering drug prices, there should not be one participant, all should be involved: manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies. You can not impose requirements on only one segment. We need the responsibility of all parts of the drug supply chain – especially now, during the war. Otherwise, efforts to reduce prices will be short-term or completely ineffective

At the same time, the MP stressed that she opposes excessive regulation, which may lead to the disappearance of expensive innovative drugs from the market, to the closure of pharmacies in villages and frontline areas.

Dmytrieva also reminded that, according to the decision of the National Security and Defense Council, a joint analysis with the Antimonopoly Committee on pricing should be conducted, but this has not yet been done. 

Her colleague, People’s Deputy Viktoria Vagner, believes that there should be many more consultations between the Ministry of Health, manufacturers, distributors and pharmacy chains in order to avoid a collapse in drug prices. 

Another MP from the relevant Verkhovna Rada Committee, Yuriy Zaslavsky, also supported the opinion of his colleagues that the state should influence manufacturers in the same way as it influences wholesale and retail players in the pharmaceutical market.

If we are now restructuring the entire industry, we must regulate the entire industry in the same way. And everyone knows that most of the price formation falls on the shoulders of the manufacturer. And manufacturers form the price of a particular drug

As the price monitoring as of April shows, indeed, without a comprehensive approach, the price reduction initiative is ineffective. While ascorbic acid is getting cheaper, other drugs continue to rise in price.

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Let us remind youOn March 1, Resolution No. 168 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on reducing drug prices, adopted in pursuance of the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, came into force. According to the government decree, the Ministry of Health approved a list of the TOP 100 drugs that should be 30% cheaper. However, according to analytical data, prices have fallen by only 25%, while the cost of other drugs that are not included in the list continues to rise.

Later, another list of drugs was published, the prices of which should be reduced by a different percentage of the cost.