The Government will hold an extraordinary meeting next Monday to examine and approve new regulations concerning the formation of the prices of drugs. At a meeting with decision makers monitoring this process on Tuesday, May 25, Premier Vlad Filat said the prices of medications in Moldova are several times higher than in the countries of the region, Info-Prim Neo reports. An analysis of 22 drugs sold in Moldova and Romania showed that the difference in prices sometime amounts to 862%, Vlad Filat said. “We discuss a lot the inflated prices of medications and their poor quality, the fraudulent selling schemes, but no measures are taken. This means that the regulations governing the formation and control of prices are not efficient,” the Premier said. Minister of Health Vladimir Hotineanu said the problem does not reside in the profit margin of 40% allowed on drugs, but in different illegal selling schemes used. “Moldova is the only state in the region that at the start of the year does not make public the purchase prices of drugs set by the producers. Thus, the selling prices are fixed illegally,”the minister said. Viorel Chetraru, the head of the Center for Combating Corruption and Economic Crime, said that the drugs business in Moldova is the most profitable, even more profitable that the trade in alcoholic drinks and cigarettes. Recently, the CCCEC sent four cases concerning the illegal sale of drugs to court. But the legislation is too mild and should be toughened up. The head of the Main State Tax Inspectorate Nicolae Platon said the official sales of drugs in Moldova last year totaled 2.1 billion lei. VAT of 179 million lei was to be transferred to the budget, but there was paid only 3.9 million lei. The same trend is witnessed this year as well. Vlad Filat instructed the officials in charge to present comprehensive information about the damage caused to the budget and about the considerable rise in the prices of the injectable solutions made by the national drug producer Farmaco at the May 31 meeting. Ten companies import drugs in Moldova at present.