Government threatens to import medicines

Medicine could be bought directly by the government if importers stop bringing over products issued with a price order after being deemed too expensive.

"If we have a situation where an importer says he cannot bring over a particular medicinal product at the price established by the price order, then the government can choose to source the medicine itself," Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said.

In the Budget for 2010, Mr Fenech announced that medicine prices found to be too high would have to be reduced, with the current voluntary mechanism being turned into a mandatory one unless an alternative system was introduced.

Medicine importers reacted negatively to the announcement, saying they would not accept an imposed reduction in prices. "We never accepted price control in the past and neither will we accept it in the present or in the future," said Reginald Fava, who chairs the healthcare business section of the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, which represents importers, distributors and retailers.

The government is determined to forge ahead with the system. "In circumstances where there is no justified reason for the cost not to go down, the government can impose a price," Mr Fenech said, adding that the EU allowed governments to issue a price order in the case of medicines.

He said the system would not be taken lightly and, before issuing a price order, the government had to ensure it was capable of importing a medicine at that cost. "If the government is capable of sourcing a particular medicine at a lower price, then the importer can surely do so as well," he argued.

"This will not be a case where every morning the minister will wake up and issue price orders. But in circumstances where there is no reason why the price of an important medicine is not going down, then the government should have the right, as granted to it by the EU, to impose that price," Mr Fenech said.

Back in 2006, the government had set up a working committee on the pricing of medicinal products to devise a system that would ensure medicine prices were fair. Importers were asked to lower the prices of medicines found to be higher than the average in a number of countries, unless they could justify the price level.

Mr Fenech said the structure was working and there were a number of importers who had agreed to lower the prices of medicines when these were deemed to be too high. The prices of 61 products had in fact been dropped as a result of the voluntary system over the past three years.

But Mr Fenech said there were other importers who refused to adjust their price, even when they did not have a justified reason.

"We intend to be very careful and only use price orders when they are really needed. We expect serious importers to be on the government's side because they do not want to be associated with anyone who is abusing. We should not allow anyone to abuse because by doing so they give a bad name to the whole sector," Mr Fenech said.

He said the authorities were also looking into the possibility of setting up reference pharmacies, which sold medicines imported by the government, as happened in other countries. "This does not mean we will be going for this system but it is another option," he said.

Two readers of The Times recently complained that they had bought medicines abroad for a much cheaper price than they had purchased them here. One said he bought 30 fungal infection pills locally for €104 but found them at a third of the price in London. Another said he bought medicine that cost €13.08 here for €5.23 from Lisbon.