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On February 28, initiated by the NA Standing Committee on Health Care, a working discussion was held.

In addition to the Committee members, the RA Minister of Health Anahit Avanesyan, the Deputy Ministers of Economy and Finance, the Chairperson of the Competition Protection Commission, as well as the representatives of the inspection bodies of Armenia attended the meeting.

The existing problems in the pharmaceuticals market in the republic were at the core. Most of them appeared in parallel with the pandemic and during the war unleashed by Azerbaijan in 2020. The situations have shown that a number of provisions of the current law are incompatible with modern challenges. Due to that, amendments to the Law on Medicines are envisaged.

As a result of the conducted studies, it was found out that problems were registered in the list of imported medicines, in particular, related to the non-compliance with quality. In addition to it, there were logistic difficulties.

The next area that needs to be regulated by law relates to the pricing policy of market. According to the Committee Chair, solutions in the legislative field should ensure price reduction and comparability with other countries in the long run. Narek Zeynalyan has stressed that medicine can never be compared with other consumer products, also he has noted that there should be strict control in the market, with special rules.

About 17% of the pharmaceuticals market is provided by local production, the rest is imported.

The Minister of Health Anahit Avanesyan is sure that the package of legislative amendments will allow to improve the pharmaceuticals market.

Such working discussions still will be continuous.