Anticorruption Center suggests creating drug prices monitoring office

The Center for Combating Corruption and Economic Crime asked the Government to set up an office that will monitor the formation of the prices of drugs. The investigations conducted by the Center showed the drugs imported into Moldova are sold at prices that are twice, trice or even more higher than in the producing country or other states, Info-Prim Neo reports. The same medication for hypertension sells in Romania for the equivalent of 7.45 Moldovan lei, while in Moldova for 43.5 lei, division head at the Center Iurie Ciorba said in a news conference on March 22. “The monitoring office will oblige the economic entities that want to import drugs to present the price charged by the producer and the selling price in Moldova. This price can be by only 15-25% higher,” Ciorba said. According to the official, if such an office is created the intermediary companies that are registered in offshore zones and significantly increase the prices of drugs will be removed from the importation scheme. Medications to the value of 392 million lei were purchased last year with government funds and money from the National Health Insurance House.