Alexander Zhukov's introductory remarks:
Ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome everyone who has gathered for this conference in Moscow and the Russian regions.
We will discuss a critical issue today: how to implement price controls for pharmaceuticals. Governors from all the regions are online.
We will hear reports from the heads of the relevant federal executive bodies and five regional governors.
Drug prices don't just have an economic and market effect. They also have a social effect. They have an impact on public health and the stability of our society.
To stabilise pharmaceutical supplies, the government anti-crisis programme called for a series of measures to control skyrocketing drug prices. These measures are currently being implemented. They mainly concern items on the essential drug list, which is made up of drugs used in practically all kinds of medical treatment.
The current procedure requires the registration of ceilings on factory prices and the establishment of regional ceilings on wholesale and retail mark-ups.
Six days ago, on March 31st, a government executive order was signed granting Roszdravnadzor (Federal Service for the Supervision of Public Health and Social Development) and the Federal Tariff Service the authority to control drug prices.
More than three thousand pharmaceutical companies have been checked since then to uncover major violations in pricing.
To illustrate this point, I would note that consumer prices in all the regions whose governors will report now sometimes exceed ceilings on retail prices, which are calculated on the basis of the ceilings registered for manufacturer's prices and mark-up ceilings established by regional authorities.
For instance, individual drug prices exceed the ceiling by 850% in the Moscow Region, 720% in the Stavropol Territory and 570% in St Petersburg.
Pharmacies in a majority of Russian regions do not provide information about ceilings on consumer prices for essential drugs.
I want to emphasise that inspections have revealed that none of the Russian regions possess all the essential drugs due to the fact that pharmacists are not bringing retail prices into compliance with current legislation on price formation according to schedule. I call on the heads of Roszdravnadzor and the Federal Tariff Service to provide more detailed accounts of the violations they've uncovered in their reports.
I want to alert governors to the fact that drug supply will be weighed as a key measure of their performance. The problem must be considered a top priority.
Every region should appoint a deputy to supervise drug price and supply control.
Conferences on this topic and in this format will be held on a regular basis.