SA Panel: Pharmaceutical industry calls for review of drug price ceiling to avoid shortages

Representatives of the pharmaceutical industry say that the risk of shortages, which already threatens injectable dipyrone for hospital treatment, could spread to other medicines.

The sector has said that the cause of the painkiller shortage is linked to the soaring of production costs, which reached a level capable of discouraging the industry, in addition to the weight of the exchange rate on the imported input.

They defend a review of the price policy, currently regulated by the CMED (Medicine Market Regulation Chamber), which imposes a ceiling on the value of products.

Reports of shortages of other drugs in hospitals, such as muscle stimulants and anti-inflammatories, contribute to the increased pressure.

According to Reginaldo Arcuri, president of FarmaBrasil (an industry association), the lag in prices affects especially older drugs, which carry distortions of many years. The whole scenario, according to him, also inhibits investments in innovation.

Arcuri argues that the release of prices would favor a natural fall in values ​​guided by competition itself.

Unlike what has happened in hospitals, dipyrone sold to the final consumer in pharmacies in other formats such as pills has not recorded production problems, according to Sindusfarma (industry union). This is because this category of medication, exempt from medical prescription, is free from price control, that is, the industry itself defines the amount charged, according to Nelson Mussolini, president of the entity.

Joana Cunha with Andressa Motter and Paulo Ricardo Martins