Several pharmaceutical groups warn about distortions resulting from new price list of different drugs
01/27/2023
Brazilian drugmakers, including those focused on generic medicines, asked the government of São Paulo to suspend the ordinance that raised medicine prices amid a risk of “occasional shortages” of certain treatments.
In letters sent Thursday to the state’s revenue service, FarmaBrasil – a trade group that represents large companies like Aché, Biolab, EMS, Eurofarma, Hypera, and Libbs) – and the PróGenéricos and Alanac organizations warned about distortions arising from the new list of Weighted Average Price to the Final Consumer (PMPF) of different products, and ask the authorities that the ordinance, which will come into force on February 1, be suspended until the “inconsistencies” are clarified.
Several states announced higher sales tax ICMS rates for medicines at the end of last year, which will be reflected in price increases as of February.
In São Paulo, there was no increase in the rate, but there was in the PMPF, with an impact on prices.
In a letter, FarmaBrasil points out that even the revised list of PMPFs in São Paulo, after warnings to Sindusfarma, maintained distortions and the average weighted price of certain drugs reaches 100% of the maximum price to the consumer imposed by the Chamber for Drug Market Regulation (CMED), the federal agency that regulates the market, after the change in rules.
“Such measure, if not reviewed, will make the commercialization of several drugs unfeasible, which may become commercially unviable and even cause specific shortages,” the trade association said in the letter.
PróGenéricos and Alanac, in turn, asked for the maintenance of the previous ordinance and immediate suspension of the new one at least until the meeting scheduled for January 31, when such distortions are expected to be discussed.
In a note, the Secretariat of Finance and Planning recalled that it extended by five months the application of the new PMPFs, which should have occurred in August. The secretariat “will maintain contacts with the sector, upon request, to address specific cases in which some reference prices may have exceeded the maximum price to the consumer set by the Chamber for Drug Market Regulation,” says the note, adding that the ordinance “already provides for the treatment for these cases, which will be duly clarified to representatives of the sector.
*By Stella Fontes — São Paulo