Moldova made modest progress in the area of health protection and one of the reasons is the excessive price of drugs that may be by 274% higher than the producer’s price. The development of the Moldovan pharmaceutical market is also hampered by the excessive regulations. Such a conclusion was reached by the authors of the study “Analysis of transparency and efficiency of regulations on the pharmaceutical market” that was made public on December 4, Info-Prim Neo reports. The authors said that a large number of companies work on the pharmaceutical market, but only five of them dictate the conditions on the market. Only 262 drugstores of the total 981 working in Moldova are located in rural areas. The state does not have a control mechanism to prevent the monopolization of the pharmaceutical market. This leads to cartel agreements, a manipulated market and a shortage of drugs of vital importance. The study authors recommend the authorities to develop a state drugstore system, especially in the rural areas, because running pharmacies in villages is not considered a profitable business by businessmen. Also, there is a shortage of pharmacists in rural areas. The state should also have a store of vital medicines so as to prevent a shortage. The representatives of druggists, the Medicine Agency and importers of pharmaceutical products attending the presentation of the study disagreed with its results. They denied that the selling price of drugs constitutes 250% of the producer’s price. The study “Analysis of transparency and efficiency of regulations on the pharmaceutical market” was carried out on the initiative and with the financial support of the Good Governance Program of Soros Foundation Moldova, by experts of the Market Economy Institute.