Drug prices are expected to rise 10.89% this week, according to calculations made by Sindusfarma (Pharmaceutical Industry Union) based on the criteria of the Medicines Market Regulation Chamber (CMED).
The readjustment must still be authorized and published in the Official Gazette by the federal government, according to the union, until next Thursday (31). After publication, the recomposition of prices can be adopted by pharmacies.
According to the law, the annual price recomposition defined by the government can be applied this year as of March 31 “in approximately 13 thousand presentations of medicines available in the Brazilian retail market”, according to Sindusfarma.
The entity points out, however, that the readjustment is neither automatic nor immediate, since competition between companies in the sector regulates prices: medicines with the same active ingredient and for the same disease are offered in the country by several manufacturers and in thousands of points of sale.
“It is important for consumers to search pharmacies and drugstores for the best offers on medicines prescribed by health professionals”, recommends the executive president of Sindusfarma, Nelson Mussolini.
“Depending on the replenishment of stocks and the commercial strategies of the establishments, price increases may take months or not even happen”, he adds.
The drugs are price controlled and frozen for 12 months, and no company can increase the maximum consumer price (PMC) of its products without government authorization.
Therefore, once a year, production cost increases accumulated in the previous 12 months can be incorporated into the price of medicines, at the discretion of the manufacturing companies, based on the calculation formula created by the government.
Sindusfarma also points out that, despite the high, medicines rose less than inflation and the highs were well below sectors such as food and transport.
According to the data, in the accumulated of the 2021 and 2020 pandemic years, medicines rose on average by 3.75%, while general inflation in Brazil jumped to 15.03%, generating a difference of less than 11 percentage points.
In the same biennium, foodstuffs rose 23.15% and transport 22.28%, according to the IBGE, almost 6 times more than medicines.
“Neither the enormous pressure of raw material costs, exchange rates and global logistics of the period, among other inputs, generated instabilities in the prices of this essential good for the fight against SARS-CoV-2 and for the Brazilian population”, says the report. union in note.
Source: CNN Brasil
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