PRETORIA, Jan 15 (AFP) - South Africa will announce draft regulations on Friday which aim to slash medicine prices by up to 70 percent, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said here.
Cheap medicines are a burning issue in South Africa where about 5.3 million in a population of 44.8 million are infected with HIV or AIDS, a higher number than any other country.
The minister told a news conference Thursday that the regulations on transparent pricing had been delayed by four years due to legal action by pharmaceutical companies.
The draft regulations will give the pharmaceutical industry three months to comment before the government enforces them through legislation in May, she said.
"When these regulations are fully implemented, the price of medicines to consumers would be between 40 percent and 70 percent lower than the current levels," the minister said.
"Our research has indicated that formally listed manufacturers' net price of medicines has been inflated to allow for the impact of a complex system of bonuses, rebates and other incentive schemes within the pharmaceutical industry.
"This incentive system allows hospital groups, pharmacy groups and other major outlets to obtain medicines at prices about 50 percent below the manufacturers' net prices," she said.
"Due to complex mark-ups in the distribution chain, the consumer seldom benefits from this incentive system."
The new regulations will ban the supply of medicine through these incentive schemes and permit the single exit price of medicine to be set at no higher than 50 percent of the present listed price.
Recently, the South African government announced that some 46 million dollars (38 million euros) would be allocated for the rest of the fiscal year -- until March 31 -- to fight HIV/AIDS, and that it would supply antiretroviral drugs, after tremendous pressure from lobby groups that it was ignoring the pandemic.
040115
AF040136
©AFP 2004.. All Rights Reserved. AFP articles contained on the AEGiS web site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without AFP's prior written permission. You may make one copy of each article for your personal, non-commercial use only; more copies would require AFP's prior written permission. http://www.afp.com/
AEGiS is a 501(c)3, not-for-profit, tax-exempt, educational corporation. AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, Elton John AIDS Foundation, the National Library of Medicine, Bridgestone Firestone Trust Fund and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2004. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
©1990, 2004 - AEGiS. AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content.
