Medicines drop from 9,000 to 1,700

The number of medicines on the market could go down to just 1,200 as from next year, Reginald Fava, an official of the Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise, has warned.

As from next year, medicines registered in Malta must be assigned a specific number on the package by the Medicines Authority.

During a meeting with Labour leader Alfred Sant, Mr Fava explained that several drug companies did not want to implement the system because of the small size of the island.

The registration process had led to a dramatic drop in the number of medicines available on the market. Mr Fava pointed out that 9,000 medicines were available in 2000. That has now slipped to just 1,700.

The chairman of the chamber's health care trade section, Joanna Cremona, said the fact that the registration process here was the same as that for the UK, despite the difference in the market size, did not make sense. This was making it difficult to persuade the suppliers to import medicines because of the expenses involved in preparing the necessary paperwork.

The fees that have to be paid whenever there is a small variation in the medicinal content ranges between Lm50 and Lm500.

According to Dr Sant, patients and pharmacy owners had complained about the lack of medicines on the market and about the price hikes.

He agreed it did not make sense to apply the same regulations of much bigger countries to Malta.

Medicines registered in other EU countries should be accepted here, the Labour leader said.