The Center for Combating Corruption and Economic Crime (CCCEC) ordered an inspection at the Medication Agency and worked out a strategy for preventing an explosion in the prices of drugs. As the demand is rising, the importers and the drugstores increased the profit margin to the maximum value allowed – from 7-10% to 15% at warehouses and from 13-18% to 25% at drugstores, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting a communiqué from the CCCEC. As the supplies of certain drugs were exhausted, there were imported new batches, but on the home market the prices of these drugs are now by about 1-3% higher. The rise was also determined by the fact that the shelf life of many drugs expired and there were brought in drugs with a longer shelf life that are more expensive. A lot of irregularities were identified in the districts bordering Ukraine, like groundless rises in the retail price of drugs and the issuing of preparations without prescription. The inspectors will check how the Medication Agency organized the public tender contests to purchase pharmaceutical and parapharmaceutical products for the Medical and Sanitary Institutions and how it included the preparations in the State Register of Medications. The steps that will be taken to prevent rises in the prices of drugs include: formulation of amendments to the laws regulating the import and sale of drugs, which would oblige the importers to correctly form the selling prices, stepping up of the activities aimed at identifying cases of smuggling in pharmaceutical and parapharmaceutical products and at preventing and combating the illegal sale of drugs in the street and in the markets.