Regarding the prices of food products, in the format of the current government coordination commission, the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze, met with representatives of pharmaceutical companies.
At the commission meeting, attended by representatives of pharmaceutical companies, he said that business is free, should be free, and that pharmaceuticals should be essentially carried out in accordance with the principles of the free market; however, pharmacies also include a social component, which is our concern. As a government, it is its responsibility to ensure that the social interests of our population are protected to the maximum.
Georgian PM noted that the issue of medicines and pharmacy prices is a topical issue among the population; it is a priority for the government to discuss with the sector representatives on how much room there is for price reduction.
In terms of pharma chain pharmacies, one process we already went through in 2022, when reference prices were increased, resulted in many ways in certain drugs, with the actual reduction of prices on certain groups of drugs.
Irakli Kobakhidze noted, “Also, other products are being implemented in pharmacy chains, where we have seen that the price difference is quite large.” “If we take European prices, in most cases there is a 35-40 percent difference with European countries, including the UK, France, etc,” he added.
The Prime Minister of Georgia noted that it is also interesting how much these high prices are based on the logical supply chain. It’s about business, business is free and should be free, and manufacturing should essentially be carried out in accordance with the free market principles, but pharmacies are the social component, which concerns them.
“As a government, we have a responsibility to ensure that the social interests of our population are protected to the maximum, and if there is room for improvement anywhere, we must take care of it with the maximum, ” Irakli Kobakhidze mentioned.
According to the Georgian Prime Minister, this is what their initiative is based on in all aspects, including pharmacies.
The meeting was held with representatives of pharmaceutical companies in discussion mode, and it was attended by representatives of 25 pharmaceutical companies.
This week, a meeting will also be held in the format of the Governmental Coordination Commission regarding fuel prices.
