While overall the regulatory framework of the Moldovan pharmaceutical market is adequate, there is an essential aspect which is not given enough attention, and namely the monitoring and analysis of the impact of policies in this sector, thinks Iurie Gotisan, associate expert with the think-tank IDIS Viitorul. In his paper titled “A Brief Scan of Moldova's Pharmaceutical Market”, the expert notes that drugs are a product which enjoys great demand, despite a general frugality among the population. This creates conditions for corrupt arrangements, which lead to unusually high prices. The expert remarks that over 80% of the medicines bought in drugstores are imported, which makes them vulnerable to systemic problems faced by the country in facilitating international trade. Operative investigations from law enforcement agencies suggest the presence of fraudulent schemes, which lead to unjustified increase in drug prices. In Moldova, prices are several times higher than in the neighboring countries, the expert found. He thinks that this is partly due to the inadequate legislation on public procurement of medicines. The mechanism chosen to regulate drug prices involves a number of risks, thinks the expert. Among them are the reduction and modification of the list of available medicines, the disappearance of some vital medicines, the decrease in the number of registered manufacturers and, consequently, a poorer competition, a potential disappearance of inexpensive medicines from the market and others. The expert believes that the Government should take steps to ensure the population's access to medicines by modifying the policy of registering the producer prices, in particular for the drugs compensated by the National Health Insurance Company, and by extending the list of essential drugs subject to compensation.