More than 60,000 retail establishments, drug prices vary from place to place, how to manage?

Patients are buying medicine at Cho Ray Hospital (District 5, Ho Chi Minh City) - Photo: DUYEN PHAN

And in fact, drug prices are still quietly increasing, possibly due to exchange rates and many other reasons, but buyers see that after a period of time, there are different prices. It is true that when input increases, sales increase, but is that reasonable?

With tens of thousands of drug retail establishments, a price management mechanism is needed.

More than 60,000 drug retail establishments compete on price

One day in mid-October, we took a prescription from a relative with type 2 diabetes to buy medicine. The prescription included Diamicron MR 30mg, FanuMet 50/500gr and Toujeo Solostar subcutaneous injection.

We went to many pharmacies on Van Kiep Street, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City to ask for the price of this prescription.

At pharmacy L., the staff quoted the price of Diamicron MR 30mg at 3,148 VND/pill, FanuMet 50/500gr at 10,700 VND/pill, and the price of injection was 510,000 VND/box. At pharmacy P., the staff said that Diamicron MR 30mg cost 3,149 VND/pill, FanuMet 50/500gr at 10,378 VND/pill, and the injection was out of stock.

Pharmacy H. sells Diamicron MR 30mg for 3,500 VND/pill, the other two drugs are not available. Pharmacy B. sells FanuMet 50/500gr for 11,000 VND/pill. The other two drugs are not available. Pharmacy O. sells Diamicron MR 30mg for 3,300 VND/pill, FanuMet is out of stock, and the injection is not available.

Thus, through a survey of drug prices at 5 pharmacies, it shows that the price of Diamicron MR 30mg at pharmacies varies, ranging from 3,148 - 3,500 VND/tablet. The price of FanuMet 50/500gr ranges from 10,378 - 11,000 VND/tablet.

According to statistics, Vietnam currently has 22,000 drug registration numbers but only 800 active ingredients, while Singapore has 1,200 active ingredients but only 10,000 registration numbers, Japan has 1,600 active ingredients with about 10,000 registration numbers. The whole country has more than 60,000 pharmacies/drugstores but the scale and quantity of drugs supplied are uneven.

Speaking to Tuoi Tre , National Assembly delegate Pham Khanh Phong Lan (HCMC) said that many registration numbers for one active ingredient should compete more, when bidding, low prices are chosen, while many quality drugs have not been selected. In addition, the boom in wholesale companies and retail pharmacies leads to increased intermediary costs, and drug prices increase at this stage.

Improve the process and procedures for granting drug registration numbers

According to delegate Pham Khanh Phong Lan, it is necessary to orient which drugs need priority, which drugs need to limit registration numbers, and at the same time use technical barriers, assess actual production conditions by professional organizations as other countries are doing... Prioritizing domestic production, but in reality, many famous domestic pharmaceutical enterprises have been taken over by foreign capital, leading to the consequence of pharmaceutical insecurity.

To develop the pharmaceutical industry, Ms. Lan said that it is necessary to improve the procedures for granting drug registration numbers, but it is necessary to consider the root cause of the situation of granting registration numbers without direction, only considering records, leading to overload and slow updating of new drugs.

At the same time, it is necessary to re-establish the conditions for the distance between pharmacies (how far apart must a pharmacy be to be licensed, not allowing too much density); the role of pharmacists with a practice certificate working at pharmacies; publicizing licenses at pharmacies; strengthening the role of professional associations.

More importantly, it is necessary to solve the situation of buying and selling through many intermediaries, leading to increased drug prices.

Regarding the declaration of wholesale and retail prices for drugs on the list of essential drugs, the draft Law on Pharmacy has changed the form of announcing expected wholesale prices. Some experts believe that the announced prices need to be controlled, otherwise it will be no different from the current form of price declaration. However, businesses currently agree with this proposal.

Experts propose that drug price management regulations need a special mechanism compared to other industries, because the number of drug products is very large, the price structure is complex and has many fluctuating factors, and the distribution system (manufacturers, importers, wholesalers, retailers) is very large, so some measures cannot be applied according to the general provisions of the Law on Cost Price applicable to all types of goods.

The revised Law on Pharmacy will boost the development of the pharmaceutical industry.

Speaking to the press on October 15, a representative of a group of pharmaceutical companies shared that they are looking forward to the revised Law on Pharmacy coming into effect, which will give a boost to the pharmaceutical industry. According to this person, in the past two years, many problems with drug registration have been resolved, and drug registration has been faster than before.

"In the draft revised law, there is a notable point about reducing administrative procedures. For example, currently, if you want to change the packaging in contact with drugs, you have to submit a regular application which takes 12 months, but the draft proposal only requires additional documents and the time is only 3 months.

We also expect the licensing time to be faster so that new drugs can soon arrive in Vietnam, because in the region, if there are new drugs, Singapore and Malaysia will have access sooner," he said.

Regarding drug price management, if the revised Law on Pharmacy is passed at the upcoming session of the National Assembly, the law will take effect in early 2025. However, there will be a gap between the time the law is enacted and when it takes effect, which is not knowing whether to declare prices (according to current regulations) or publish prices (according to the draft). It is very necessary for state management agencies to provide guidance on implementation at this time.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/hon-60-000-co-so-ban-le-gia-thuoc-moi-noi-mot-kieu-quan-sao-20241015223621582.htm