Pharmacies seem to be abiding by the cheaper price list covering 62 medicines issued by the government earlier this month with none of the 31 inspected so far being found to be selling new stock at the old price.

Consumer and Competition Department inspectors conducted pharmacy inspections in several localities since the price list was published on July 2.

A spokesman for the department said: "There were no instances where the pharmacies were suspected or found to be selling new medicinal stock at the old price".

At every inspection, he added, an average of 30 items were checked.

"This is an ongoing exercise because inspections will continue to be carried out by the department in order to verify the price decrease of the 62 medicines and other prices that will be announced in the future," he said.

When publishing the list of 62 medicines, the government had said that only new stocks would be expected to be sold at the lower price. To ensure that pharmacies did not pass off new stock as old, inspectors were taking note of stock levels on sale at the old price and cross-checking these with importers and wholesalers.

"The old stock of more medicines is phasing out and increasingly more medicines are available at the reduced prices," the spokesman said. An investigation carried out earlier this year by the Consumer Department revealed that 150 medicines were sold at prices above the EU average.

The Consumer Affairs Parliamentary Secretariat has insisted that the list of 62 products was only the first batch of medicines to have their prices cut and more will follow in the weeks to come.

The voluntary mechanism introduced in 2007 to establish the average price of medicines in the EU and recommend lower prices for products found to be above the average was still being used today.

Its voluntary nature means that importers are not bound by the lower prices. In fact, when, in 2007, the government had embarked on a similar exercise some of the suggested lower prices were ignored.

The parliamentary secretariat has gone on record stating that if the desired results are not achieved this time round, the government will explore all possibilities including making the mechanism mandatory.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com