Another 29 medicines see price reductions
A reduction in the price of another 29 medicines has been announced by Parliamentary Secretary for Consumer Affairs Chris Said this morning.
The reduction follows talks with importers and will come into effect immediately on new stocks. It ranges from four to 30 per cent.
The price of seven medicines was reduced between four and 10 per cent, that of 17 between 11 and 20 per cent, that of four between 21 and 30 per cent and a medicine used to lower cholesterol in the blood was reduced by nearly 39 per cent.
Dr Said said that the new list includes medicines that are used a lot to cure heart diseases, hypertension, high cholesterol, stomach ulcers and acid, psoriasis, various inflammations and aches. Other medicines whose price has been reduced include antibiotics and medicines taken by people suffering from fits.
The Parliamentary Secretary said this development should lead to the final aim which was for medicine prices in Malta to reflect their economic value.
He said that since the publication of the first list of price reductions in July, when the price of another 61 medicines was reduced, the Consumer and Competition Department held 315 inspections at pharmacies. These were to continue to ensure that the reductions announced are put into effect.
Further information can be obtained from 2144 6446 Mondays to Fridays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., e-mail: medicines@gov.mt .
The list of medicines which are seeing a reduction in price follows:
|
Mediċina |
Doża |
Il-prezz l-antik (€) |
Il-prezz il-ġdid (€) |
Roħs (€) |
Għal x'hiex tintuża |
|
Atacand |
28 tablets x 16mg |
34.86 |
31.00 |
-3.86 |
pressjoni għolja |
|
Cataflam® |
20 coated tablets X 25mg |
7.05 |
6.24 |
-0.81 |
uġiegħ u infjammazzjoni |
|
Crestor |
28 coated tablets X 10 mg |
29.33 |
28.16 |
-1.17 |
ibaxxi l-kolesterol |
|
Diprosalic scalp application |
100ml Cutaneous solution X 2% + 0.05% w per w |
24.25 |
21.46 |
-2.79 |
psoriasis fil-qurriegħa (ġilda tar-ras) |
|
Elocon |
30g Cream X 0.1% w per w |
11.48 |
9.66 |
-1.82 |
infjammazzjoni tal-ġilda fi psoriasis |
|
Elocon |
30g Ointment x 0.1% w per w |
11.48 |
9.66 |
-1.82 |
infjammazzjoni tal-ġilda fi psoriasis |
|
Elocon |
30ml Scalp Lotion X 0.1% + 30% w per w |
11.48 |
9.66 |
-1.82 |
infjammazzjoni tal-ġilda fi psoriasis |
|
Famvir |
10 coated tablets X 125mg |
45.11 |
37.45 |
-7.66 |
Antivirali |
|
Fosrenol |
90 chewable tablets X 750 mg |
230.45 |
198.00 |
-32.45 |
jikkontrolla l-livelli tal-fosfat fid-demm f’pazjenti b’mard fil-kliewi |
|
Fucithalmic |
5g viscous eye drops solution X 10mg per g |
6.64 |
5.32 |
-1.32 |
infezzjonijiet fl-għajnejn |
|
Klacid® XL |
7 modified release coated tablets X 500 mg |
16.21 |
14.63 |
-1.58 |
Antibijotiku |
|
Lescol® XL |
28 prolonged release tablets X 80mg |
39.73 |
33.29 |
-6.44 |
ibaxxi l-kolesterol |
|
Losec® MUPS® |
28 film-coated gastro resistant tablets X 10mg |
32.12 |
25.70 |
-6.42 |
Kontra l-ulċeri u l-aċidu fl-istonku |
|
Losec® MUPS® |
28 film-coated gastro resistant tablets X 20mg |
58.02 |
46.42 |
-11.60 |
Kontra l-ulċeri u aċidu fl-istonku |
|
Simvacor |
30 film coated tablets X 10 mg |
17.54 |
10.71 |
-6.83 |
ibaxxi l-kolesterol |
|
Subutex |
7 sublingual tablets X 8mg |
42.07 |
39.02 |
-3.05 |
sostitut li jinagħta lill-pazjenti li jieħdu id-drogi tat-tip opjojdi |
|
Tegretol |
50 tablets X 200mg |
18.12 |
13.87 |
-4.25 |
Aċċessjonijiet |
|
Tenoretic® |
28 film coated tablets X 100mg + 25mg |
15.89 |
11.12 |
-4.77 |
pressjoni għolja |
|
Tenormin |
28 film-coated tablets X 100mg |
12.30 |
9.90 |
-2.40 |
pressjoni għolja |
|
Voltaren® |
5 Suppositories X 100mg |
8.51 |
7.63 |
-0.88 |
uġiegħ u infjammazzjoni |
|
Voltaren® |
30 gastro-resistant tablets X 25mg |
9.65 |
8.32 |
-1.33 |
Uġiegħ u infjammazzjoni |
|
Voltaren® |
10 suppositories X 12.5mg |
6.76 |
6.24 |
-0.52 |
Uġiegħ u infjammazzjoni |
|
Voltaren® |
10 suppositories X 50mg |
8.97 |
7.63 |
-1.34 |
Uġiegħ u infjammazzjoni |
|
Voltaren® |
5 X 3ml ampoules of 75mg |
12.24 |
10.40 |
-1.84 |
Uġiegħ u infjammazzjoni |
|
Voltaren® Retard 100 |
10 modified release tablet X 100mg |
10.61 |
9.71 |
-0.90 |
uġiegħ u infjammazzjoni |
|
Zestoretic 20 |
28 tablets X 20mg + 12.5mg |
25.60 |
18.34 |
-7.26 |
pressjoni għolja |
|
Zestril |
28 tablets X 5mg |
11.37 |
10.46 |
-0.91 |
pressjoni għolja jew mard tal-qalb |
|
Zestril |
28 tablets X 10mg |
17.33 |
14.73 |
-2.60 |
pressjoni għolja jew mard tal-qalb |
|
Zestril |
28 tablets X 20mg |
25.60 |
19.20 |
-6.40 |
pressjoni għolja jew mard tal-qalb |
36 Comments
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AN. Cutajar
Sep 2nd 2010, 08:57
Reduced Retail Prices mentioned are not correct of some of the items.
gaffarena joseph
Sep 2nd 2010, 08:11
Re J,Quintino
I, want you to explain to me, how by law they have to make only a 25% profit,and they are now
making a reduction in price of nearly 40%.
They have no competition in Malta because they are still sole agents for the products they import.
These are people who had all the rights to sell their products with a profit margin established by them, and this is a fact from the reduction that they are giving us now.
From here I, want to tell the parliamentary responsable , to monitor well these reductions, and the profit established by law, because they can take him easily for a ride?
I, agree with you that other products too have to be monitored, after all there are people being paid well to do this job.
j.quintano
Sep 2nd 2010, 15:59
i assure you that competition is fierce in the market. Big pharmaceutical agents wont feel the pinch of the reduction in prices because they have got a wide variety of products and the loss incurred on them will be minimal. No businessman is crazy enough to be at a loss. However people have to be instructed by both doctors and pharmacists on which medicinal product is the most cost effective for them.
Jgatt
Sep 2nd 2010, 06:09
We need the single European market to work also for medicines, and on this issue authorities procrastinate with their push towards isolation. Why are they so pent up with preventing adequate competition, clearly to the detriment of the vulnerable. We all know the two models, it must be either competition or controls, but none is clearly not in the interest of consumers. So what does this laudable effort achieve in the context of the big picture, clearly very little, as it is one step in the marathon of finding the right balance between consumers and the industry. Other countries have found the courage to tone down the expectations of the producing companies to more equitable levels through better controls for this industry, and our society should also move along these lines.
j.quintano
Sep 1st 2010, 23:56
many are criticizing the fact that they spent a long time, paying higher prices for medicines. Does anyone think that the agents were putting up prices just for the fun of it? i assure you that the competition in medicines being imported is fierce and agents would think twice before putting them up. I am all out for reduction in prices and let us hope this will continue but i also suggest price control on other items such as toiletries, and food (especially fruit and vegetables). These are rarely mentioned but even here there are big question marks hanging regarding their prices. PLEASE TAKE NOTE.
C.CEFAI
Sep 1st 2010, 21:03
Nice to reduce price of essentail medicines or include them in the Free Medicines Scheme.
What about considering the recently new medicine "Multaq" which works miracles
with patients sufferring from a heart condition (Attrial Fibrillation) but very expensive to buy.
B.Aquilina
Sep 1st 2010, 20:28
Why aren’t any anti-demensia drugs included? As far as I know only the price of Reminyl has been slightly reduced. Most of the drugs mentioned, or their counterparts are for conditions which are listed under the Schedule V and may be obtained freely by most people. People with demensia must always buy their medication if they don’t want the condition to worsen so a price reduction would be of greater benefit.
y.scicluna
Sep 1st 2010, 19:17
I find it very disappointing that this news article is based on medicine prices which will be reduced. The news article should have been WHY WERE THESE MEDICINE PRICES MUCH HIGHER ? Or maybe investigative journalism is not considered appropriate under these circumstances ?
monica muscat
Sep 1st 2010, 18:42
Medicine and its prices has always, and will remain a problem. Not for nothing the Maltese saying: DAK SPIZJAR - indicating a person who sells at high prices. Let us all keep our feet to the ground. Things are moving, perhaps at a crawl, but moving they are. The only question I pose is: When will we be seeing the real decrease in our pharmacies? Last time it was - when stocks are exhausted. A few days later: When stocks are exhausted by the stockists. How are we to know when this happens? After all, when prices hike up we hit the ball right away! Some guidlines from the authorities will not be amiss.
M.Cachia
Sep 1st 2010, 19:25
Madam do you expect pharmacies that would have bought their stock at a higher price to begin selling it at the lower price? This would entail either minimal profit, or in most cases a loss. At the end of the day the pharmacist's wage and utitlities have to be paid and therefore a profit must be had. It's only when agent's refund the difference in price to the pharmacies that the prices can go down overnight.
joseph gaffarena
Sep 1st 2010, 18:04
Those who used to import know exactly the margin of profit that we by law have to add for our profit, and this profit should be 25%, If we see the previous reduction the minister was very happy in telling us , that some medicines went down more than 40%, so this means that these kind people were stealing from our pockets all these years and no action was ever taken from the trade dept. This is not a joke,This was and still going on for several years.Yesterday I, went to buy just a bottle of 10ml,called pure simple water , to refresh my eyes,the price is 5,98euros,45% more than any other eu country.Ex, minister john Dalli 2 years ago said in public,that it is very hard to have an eye on the prices of medicines, because they change the price and brand nearly every day. Very sorry to say, but I, do not beleave in such reductions.
c spiteri
Sep 1st 2010, 17:23
WOW HOW KIND
VV Bartolo
Sep 1st 2010, 15:47
not enough!!
do your homework properly mr said, and medicines' prices should go down muchhhhhh further as their local importers are taking advantages and making hugeeeeee profits to the detriment of us, the local citizens!!!
R.Gauci
Sep 1st 2010, 14:51
Ventolin when???
M.Cachia
Sep 1st 2010, 16:34
Funny that - And UK holidaymakers always go to maltese pharmacies to stock up on Ventolin because it's cheaper than in the UK.
ppace
Sep 1st 2010, 19:43
Dont tell me you consider Ventolin expensive ta!
Joseph Stafrace
Sep 1st 2010, 13:52
Whilst praising these "good samaritans" for lowering the prices of these medicines; I would be interested to know when they are going to lower the price of Cardura(2mg) tablets.
Whilst on holiday in Italy I bought a packet by 30 tablets for Euro12.16c whilst the price in Malta for a packet by 28 tablets cost Euro 17.74!!
V Zammit
Sep 1st 2010, 17:00
Mr Stafrace,
Good for you.
And the price for the same packet - Doxazosin - in London is Sterling 3.20, today, September 1, 2010.
M.Cachia
Sep 1st 2010, 19:20
All Cardura is Doxazosin but not all Doxazosin is Cardura. It's that cheap because it's a generic which might or might not be of the same quality as Cardura.
V. Zammit
Sep 2nd 2010, 02:01
M. Cachia
A generic is a drug which is produced and distributed without patent protection. It may still have a patent on the formulation but not on the active ingredient. It must contain, too, the same active ingredients as the original formulation. Generic drugs are identical or within an acceptable bioequivalent range to the brand name counterpart with respect to pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. By extension, therefore, generics are identical in dose, strength, route of administration, safety, efficacy, and intended use. In most cases, generic products are available once the patent protections afforded to the original developer have expired. When generic products become available, the market competition often leads to substantially lower prices for both the original brand name product and the generic forms. There is no market competition locally in this respect. Which may or may not account for the price, not the quality, being what it is for the formerly patented product.
S. Vella
Sep 2nd 2010, 08:42
@M. Cachia
Any generic sold in a EU market is of the same quality of the originator (in this case Cardura). The reason generics are cheaper is simply because they are allowed to bypass the most expensive research stages - animal testing and human clinical trials.
The days of bad quality generics have been over by more than a decade unless you do not buy from an unlicensed (stress on UNlicensed) e-pharmacy.
M.Cachia
Sep 2nd 2010, 14:45
Not so - not all generics are identical to the the parent drug (in this case Cardura). While they are identical in dose, strength, route of administration and safety, generics have a range of efficacy which they must fall in to be licensed. While some generics are equivalent or better than the parent drug, some are not because thier efficacy and bioequivalence fall into the lower end of this bracket. In simple terms the excipient mix is not the same as the parent's so degranulation and therefore absorbtion rates will also differ. I am not against generics, but you do have to carefully select which generics to trust.
And in case you don't believe me - from experience, I've had 6 patients in the last year who have to take Cardura as the generic available fromt he NHS has only limited efficacy in controling thier prostatic hyperplasia.
F. Taylor
Sep 1st 2010, 13:33
Thankkyou Thankyou but no thanks, as i still get them much much cheaper from back Home. and then claim insurnace that i am paying so really they are all in all FREE or as they say Baqshi!
Claire Busuttil
Sep 1st 2010, 16:11
kemm tidher li qatt ma kellek bzonn medicini jew servizzi tas sahha.....kieku mhux il kulur titlef....imbad naraw kemm tibqa tara kollox bil blu!!
Claire Busuttil
Sep 1st 2010, 21:55
@ sorry this comment was meant for Mr.XERRI
P. J. Xerri
Sep 1st 2010, 12:42
Inkredibbli. Kull haga tajba li ssir f'dan il-pajjiz, tibqa' ssib lil min imaqdar. Tilaghbuha tal-indipendneti. Imma ovvja li taghmlu hekk ghax ta' kulur differenti u mmexxija mill-politika partiggjana. Min jitwieled tond ma jmutx kwadru.
Prosit Dr. Said. This is the way forward!
K. Crockford
Sep 1st 2010, 13:03
So you're thinking that these importers just reduced their prices out of nothing, the likely reason is because they had a VERY big profit over them(since they were over priced).
"The Parliamentary Secretary said this development should lead to the final aim which was for medicine prices in Malta to reflect their economic value."
here itself proves that the medicine is not of its economical value.. ie its OVER priced
B.Grech
Sep 1st 2010, 13:05
@ 'Tilaghbuha tal-indipendneti. Imma ovvja li taghmlu hekk ghax ta' kulur differenti u mmexxija mill-politika partiggjana. Min jitwieled tond ma jmutx kwadru. ' From this comment I m sure you must be over 50 years old. The younger generations are no longer led by the nose by one party or the other. In this case yes its a good thing that some sort of price control is being introduced but we ordinary people have every right to be angry at why it took so many years to happen not to mention suspicious of whether the process has gone far enough.
T Camilleri
Sep 1st 2010, 16:43
Very jaghmuk mix-xejn P. J. Xerri
Charles Micallef
Sep 1st 2010, 12:38
More confirmation that the Consumer in Malta has been ripped off by these gannets for many long years!
Gerard Cassar
Sep 1st 2010, 11:29
No thanks, no prosit to no one. Such a price reduction just means that clients were being robbed and permitted to be. Price reduction for no other reason because objects were overpriced need not be thanked, on the contrary.
Robbery is never to be thanked but condemned even if done legally such as in establishing prices beyond the real ones.
Lescol reduced by 6 Euros. a box of 28.
joe vella
Sep 1st 2010, 11:24
thank you my foot! just consider all these years with medicines being sold at inflated prices without a measure of control
if one cares to look at the way importers spend entertainment money on the professionals to entice them to prescribe their brands, paid for seminars (and inclusive hols) , meals etc etc etc this can only come from margins that allow such a high level of expenditure, this including premium wages for medical reps, company cars, mobiles
it will be interesting to see if they will manage to maintain this level of expenditure if the authorities stick to the new policy
this change came about only because people started complaining about the huge price differences for the same brands bought locally and in other EU countries
when the people got more vociferous, then the authorities got moving
M.Cachia
Sep 1st 2010, 14:32
You do realise that what you described is all paid by the mother company not the agents, so all that's going to change is that the agents have less money going into thier pockets, which is only fair.
T Camilleri
Sep 1st 2010, 16:45
M.Cachia pull the other one Cachia. And do you think that the mother company would just throw all this money without getting much more back from un-necessary prescriptions by the professionals?
M.Cachia
Sep 1st 2010, 19:17
Of course they get something in return - do you think they do it to be nice? That was not the point of my comment. The point was that what Mr. Vella mentioned is paid from profits made by the mother company not by profits made by the agents, so this reduction in prices at the local level will not have any bearing on them whatsoever.
R.Borg
Sep 1st 2010, 11:08
Thank you, Government, once again.