In the first two months of the year, the import of drugs dropped by 20% compared to the same period of 2010. The information was presented during a closed meeting of the Government on Tuesday, March 1, by Maria Cojocaru-Toma, director of the Medicines Agency. According to a Government press release, quoted by Info-Prim Neo, Maria Cojocaru-Toma attributed the decline on the importers’ reserves accumulated last year. Moreover, in January and February, the National Registry of Drugs Prices wasn’t complete so that no import authorizations were issued. The director of the Medicines Agency said that by the end of February things got back to normal so there was no risk of a drugs deficit. Over 80% of the medicines sold in Moldova are imported. At the moment, there are 5,000 products included in the National Registry of Drugs Prices. With the creation of this instrument, medicine prices have dropped by 14.7%, said Maria Cojocaru-Toma. Alexei Secrieru, deputy director of the Center for Fighting Economic Crimes and Corruption, mentioned that anti-corruption officers checked 300 drugstores over the last 2 months and found that 15 of them exceeded the allowed trade margin of 40%. The press release didn’t mention anything about local drugs, the prices of which have increased lately.