YEREVAN. – No substantial price fall is noted in the drugs that are imported to Armenia by fifty organizations and, in actual fact, the prices have risen thereby contributing to superprofits, Health Minister Derenik Dumanyan stated, during a press conference on Friday, summing up his one-hundred days in office.    

As per the Minister, the Government has taken appropriate measures to facilitate the import of medicine into Armenia. “But the prices of solely 5-6 drugs have fallen,” he remarked. 

In Dumanyan’s words, the state does not intervene in pricing and, as a result, the companies themselves determine the drug prices so as to gain superprofits. “There are numerous unregistered drugs. Many drug companies refuse to register their medication in Armenia because this demands additional time, [and] they have to submit documents. And [therefore] our importers bring those drugs and sell them as unregistered medication,” he noted.      

Armenia’s Health Minister stressed that the strictest quality control is indispensable from the moment of importing. “The usefulness of each drug that enters the country is determined at the border. [But] There is a lack of full control mechanisms in this sector,” Derenik Dumanyan said, and added that the matter of free medicine recipients likewise needs to be resolved.