CAIRO: The prices of 84 originator drugs will be reduced, as part of a two-stage reduction in drug prices that began on May 1, 2010, Health Minister Hatem El-Gabaly announced Sunday. According to the state news agency, the prices of a total of 84 drugs will be reduced following the implementation of this second stage on July 1, 2010. Drugs reduced in May were for conditions including cancer, diabetes, bacterial infections and psychiatric disorders. The Egyptian Drug Agency announced on its website that the decreases “ranging from 10 to 50 percent will save up to LE 200 million paid currently by patients and the government”. The government is currently challenging an April 2010 ruling that froze application of Ministry of Health decree 373, issued in 2009, that radically altered the way medicines are priced. In April, the Court of Administrative Justice ordered a suspension of decree 373 because “it willfully ignored the social dimension that the legislator carefully considered” and said that increased drug prices would be “an inevitable repercussion” of the decree. In June, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights reported that during hearings against decree 373 the Ministry of Health gave the court false information, “claiming that the implementation of the new pricing system had led to price cuts for some 40 pharmaceutical drugs,” in contradiction of Ministry of Health statements that the decree would not apply retrospectively. EIPR researcher Dina Iskandar told Daily News Egypt that there have previously been “conflicting statements” with regard to whether drug price reductions are as a result of decree 373. “However, after the decree has been stopped by the court, health ministry statements have been consistent in affirming that the price reductions are not the result of the application of decree 373 and that the decree only applies to newly registered drugs.” Hearings in the government appeal against the suspension of decree 373 will resume on Sept. 25, 2010.
