Dmitry Medvedev urged regions and governors to strictly curb unjustified markups on medicines and ensure pharmacy chains do not enter monopoly agreements. He said prices for common drugs had risen several times in some regions without link to exchange rates or the economy. According to Roszdravnadzor, since early 2009 retail medicine prices in Russia have risen 11 percent on average, with increases recorded in 75 regions.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called on the regions to fight unjustified markups on medicines set by pharmaceutical companies. "It is necessary to make sure that pharmacy chains do not create all kinds of corporations, so that there are no monopoly agreements on medicine prices," Medvedev said."In some regions of Russia, there is a situation where the prices of basic medicines have risen several times, and this is not connected with anything - neither with the ruble’s exchange rate against the dollar or euro, nor with changes in the economic situation. These are not crisis-related things at all; this is greed, when individual companies try to sit on people’s necks and demand extra money for ordinary medicines," the president said.
The president had already made a similar statement in March. "The task of the governors is to make sure that the markups they apply both to imported medicines and to our medicines are kept within some reasonable limits. If they do not do this, law enforcement agencies will deal with it. I promise that," Medvedev said then.
Since the beginning of 2009, retail prices for medicines in Russia’s commercial market have risen by an average of 11 percent. A statement from Roszdravnadzor said that medicine prices are rising in 75 constituent entities of the federation. The leaders in price growth were the Moscow, Kursk, and Magadan regions, as well as Tatarstan, Mordovia, and Dagestan.