In 2022, FAS conducted an economic analysis of more than 9,000 drug prices. More than 7,600 prices were analyzed in relation to registration and re-registration, more than 1,200 – in relation to setting prices for defective drugs. In total, over the past year, the FAS established 864 economically justified prices for drugs. Daria Starykh, Deputy Head of the Health Control Department of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia, shared this exciting announcement at the XI Partnership event “Russian Medicines – Towards Interdisciplinary Dialogue” on Friday, September 22.
“The number of applications for annual price indexation of drugs, especially in the lower price range, has experienced a notable surge. The number of analyses in this category will increase significantly by 2023. Since 2020, the FAS has thoroughly examined over 2,000 drug prices in the category of defective drugs. Less than 3% of cheap drugs have a failure rate”, she pointed out that refusals usually happen because the new price is economically unjustified.
In the economic analysis of drug prices, FAS utilizes various indicators. The regulator carefully examines a variety of factors when assessing drug prices, including international pricing, costs of similar medications, historical purchase data, fluctuations in exchange rates, inflation rates, actual increases in raw material expenses, and various other indicators.
In addition, since 2020, the FAS Russia, together with the Circle of Good Foundation, has been negotiating with suppliers of drugs not registered in the country that are necessary for children with orphan diseases. For 30 medicines and nine medical products, the regulator managed to reduce prices by half from purchases outside the fund.