Prices for essential medicines in Romania to be set against average of lowest three in EU

Health Minister Ioana Mihaila signed on Thursday an order amending regulations for the calculation and approval of caps on medicines for human use in Romania, so as to ensure market availability in Romania of some essential medicines for patients.

According to a press statement released on Friday, the new regulations introduce a new category of pharmaceuticals, essential medicines, for which the maximum approved price will be the average of the lowest three prices in the European countries in the group of comparison countries, instead of the lowest one, as it is now.

The list of essential medicines will be approved by order of the health minister 30 days of the entry into force of these amendments.

"By these changes, we ensure the availability of essential medicines for patients in Romania. For medicines for which there is a marketing authorisation in Romania, the danger of withdrawal from the country decreases considerably and, at the same time, the Romanian market becomes attractive for essential medicines that do not have a marketing authorisation at this moment, with the purpose being to secure adequate and continuous stockpiles of medicines in chemist's shops and hospitals," Mihaila is quoted as saying in the press statement, agerpres reports.