Director of the Pharmaceutical Agency Abdulla Azizov announced that reference prices for medicines are being reduced. According to him, this decision will serve not only to regulate the prices of imported medicines, but also to gradually reduce prices in pharmacies for the population.
Azizov cited important figures in an interview with the "Uzbekistan 24" TV channel after a meeting with the president on January 20. According to it, on December 5, the price of 2,000 medicines was reduced to an average of 40-60% for distributors.
"On December 5, we reduced the prices of 2,000 medicines for distributors by an average of 40-60%, which led to the return of $70 million to our country," the head of the agency said.
According to the expert, the reduction in reference prices for these 2 thousand drugs is also felt in retail prices in pharmacies. According to him, these changes are expected to be reflected in the current prices from March 1.
At the same time, the Pharmaceutical Agency has prepared a new regulation. According to it, it is planned to reduce the cost of another 4 thousand imported medicines. This means there is a possibility that the prices of about 6,000 medicines will decrease during the year.
"A new regulation has been developed, according to which the price of another 4,000 imported medicines is expected to decrease. That is, the cost of about 6,000 medicines will decrease during the year," Azizov said.
Another important innovation is the full launch of the electronic prescription system in 2026. Currently, work is underway in this direction, but the figures show that the system's use is not yet at the expected level.
According to the head of the agency, more than 400 thousand electronic prescriptions have been issued to date (387 thousand were shown in the presentation), but only 54 thousand of them were used in real sales in pharmacies.
Therefore, control will now be tightened. Azizov said that together with the Prosecutor General's Office, it is planned to intensify work and check whether the practice of electronic prescriptions in pharmacies is really working. In addition, based on the information received from the Tax Committee, the sale of hormonal and antibiotic drugs by electronic prescription is also monitored separately.
In short, it is expected that the reduction of reference prices and the full implementation of electronic prescriptions will strengthen order and transparency in the pharmaceutical market, and will somewhat ease the pain of purchasing pharmacies for the population.
Read “Zamin” on Telegram!
