You're reading: Azarov hails project on introduction of reference prices for medicines for hypertensive patients

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has welcomed the practice of the introduction of reference prices for medicines for hypertensive patients and ordered a study of the issue of expanding the experiment with a reduction in prices for medicines for other categories of patients, the government's press service has reported.

He was speaking after hearing at a government meeting on Wednesday about the implementation of a pilot project on the state regulation of prices for medicines to treat people with high blood pressure by setting limits on the level of wholesale prices.

“We started a very serious experiment and, of course, we hoped for a much larger decline in prices, but the 12% we got is also a positive result. Therefore, it’s necessary to continue this project,” he said.

Azarov also demanded that the level of markups not only for medicines for hypertensive patients, but also for medicines in general be kept under control, so as to avoid an unjustified increase in prices for other groups of medicines. The Finance Ministry was ordered to ensure the full financing of the project on reference prices.