Georgian Health Ministry suspects pharmaceutical collaboration in “artificially increased” prices

The Georgian Ministry of Health on Tuesday revealed a substantial artificial increase in drug prices at pharmacies, reaching 1000%, 2000%, and sometimes exceeding 3000%. This pertains specifically to medicines not yet subject to the Ministry’s reference prices, which establish an upper limit for acceptable pricing.

The Ministry noted a concerning pattern where medicines in major pharmaceutical chains display nearly identical prices, prompting suspicions of a coordinated effort by pharmaceutical companies to artificially raise prices.

The Ministry deemed the artificial inflation of drug prices “unacceptable”, highlighting the adverse impact on citizens due to unjust pricing and a lack of healthy competition within the sector, prioritizing profit over public well-being.

“It is clear that there is no free price formation for medicines among the large economic agents operating in the market, and healthy competition is limited based on the agreement,” the body said.