The contracts signed by the medical institutions with importers of medicines as a result of public tender contests are 70% fulfilled. Of the over 6,000 medicines included in the State Register of Medicines, about 300 drugs haven’t been imported over the last few years because there were no orders or because they are not attractive to the importers from economic viewpoint.
Contacted by IPN, director of the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices Alexandru Coman said the importers are not obliged to bring into the country all the medicines included in the State Register. “There are two types of medicines: original, which are produced for the first time, and generic, which appear regulated by law. If the producers of drugs are interested in selling their products in Moldova, they file applications to the competent bodies. The cases are examined and the producers are afterward authorized to supply medicines. This does not yet mean that we need only the 300 types of drugs that are imported. There are many substitutes and there are no problems in this respect,” he stated.
According to Coman, the situation is yet different as regards the drugs with common international names, which cannot be found in Moldova, either in original or generic form. “We then ask the producers to supply them, but these not always want to register these drugs in our country. In such a situation, we can authorize the import of drugs for public utilities, based on a decision of the specialized commission, which allows putting drugs into circulation one time,” he explained.
Alexandru Coman also said that the state cannot oblige the importers to bring the cheapest drugs into the country, which are probably needed in medical institutions. The only solution is for the state to purchase such drugs through the agency of a company in which it has a majority shareholding.
According to the State Register of Medicines, about 50% of the imported drugs come from the EU, 17% from the CIS, while 15% from Asia. 18% of the consumed medicines are produced in Moldova. Alexandru Coman noted that the pharmaceutical firms of Moldova produce only two active substances, while the rest are being imported.
