13 medical products have had their prices reduced thanks to cheaper importation avenues, the Parliamentary Secretary for Consumer Protection, Deo Debattista, said today.

The products ranged from IVF related treatments, pain killers, and anti-anxiety medication, among others.

Dr Debattista, flanked by Medicines Authority head Anthony Serracino Inglott, and a representative of local importers Alfred Gera and Sons, said 14 cheaper generics had also recently been introduced. They include medicines for cholesterol, anxiety and dementia.

Some of these were up to 50 per cent cheaper than their branded counterparts.
Prof. Serracino Inglott told the Times of Malta that the cheaper prices had been secured through collaboration between local importers, international suppliers, and national entities such as the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority and the recently bolstered Drugs Intelligence and Access Unit.

“It is through collaboration with different entities and effort on everyone’s part that we can find ways to improve patients’ access to medication,” Prof Serracino Inglott said.

Dr Debattista said international research showed that nearly 50 per cent of patients did not follow through their prescribed treatment till the end. Of these, some 60 per cent sighted financial reasons as the main cause.

Cheaper medicines:

Malarone 250mg/100mg tablets x 12. – 56 per cent cheaper.
Solpadol 30 mg/500mg caplets x 100. – 50 per cent cheaper.
Seroxat 20mg tablets x 30. – 50 per cent cheaper.
MagVit B6 tablets x 3. – 48 per cent cheaper.
MagVit B6 tablets x 50. – 32 per cent cheaper.
Alendronic Acid Arrow 70 mg tablets x 4. – 21 per cent cheaper.
Bemfola 450 IU/0.75mL solution. – 11 per cent cheaper.
Bemfola 300 IU/0.50mL solution. – 10 per cent cheaper.
Bemfola 150 IU/0.25mL solution. – 9 per cent cheaper.
Bemfola 225 IU/0.375mL solution. – 7 per cent cheaper.
Dulcolax 10mg suppositories adults x 12. – 5 per cent cheaper.
Duphaston 10mg tablets x42. – 1 per cent cheaper.