From March 1, the NSDC decision to reduce prices by 30% for the most popular medicines has begun to operate in Ukraine. However, the real reduction of cost was manipulated, because on the eve of this decision, prices for medicines increased sharply.
In January 2025, the drugs went up to peak values, and in March, after a decrease, they returned to the level observed in the summer of 2024. Thus, the pharmaceutical market created the illusion of decline, while Ukrainians were forced to buy medicines at inflated prices for several months.
Health Minister Viktor Lyashko said that the average weighted retail cost of drugs from the TOP-100 decreased by 25%, although the NSDC announced a decrease by 30%. The reason is that some non -network pharmacies remained in the old prices.
The post of MOH provides examples of new prices that allegedly demonstrate significant cheaper. But with careful analysis it becomes obvious that this is not the case.
Examples of Price Manipulations:
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Validol-Darnitsa (10 tablets). In May 2024 it cost 19.66 UAH, in January 2025 the price rose to 24.5 UAH, and after "reduction" returned to 19.66 UAH.
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Corvalol-Darnitsa (25 ml). In the summer of 2024 it cost cheaper than after March "reduction".
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Pharmadol (tablets №50). In April 2024, the price was at the level of 166 UAH, in January 2025 she jumped to more than 200 UAH, and then "decreased" to 166 UAH.
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Gidazepam (tablets of 0.05 g №10). In January 2025, the price exceeded 300 UAH, and after the reduction is 231 UAH, which is still higher than in June 2024.
The only drug that really fell - Tivortin solution. Its cost decreased from 215 UAH to 200 UAH.
Medication prices are formed by manufacturers, distributors and pharmacy networks. Manufacturers explain the increase in the cost of increasing the cost of logistics, raw materials and energy resources. However, pharmacy networks remind that 71.8%of prices are generated by manufacturers, while pharmacies can only affect 22.3%and distributors by 5.9%.
The chairman of the Association "Medicines of Ukraine" Petro Bagriy explained that the exchange rate, the energy crisis and the cost of logistics influence the final price of medicines.
The Ministry of Health and the State Consumer Service assure that there is a tendency to gradually reduce medicines. However, they did not pay attention to the fact that before the decision to reduce the cost of the pharmaceutical market increased prices for medicines, forcing Ukrainians to pay for several months.
The control of prices was handed over to the State Consumer Service, which did not see any violations in this situation. At the same time, citizens filed 567 complaints about inflated prices, in particular from Kharkiv, Kyiv, Poltava, Transcarpathian, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Odessa, Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk and Volyn regions.
Instead of the real cheaper of medicines, Ukrainians received a scheme that allowed the pharmaceutical business to temporarily increase profits by artificial rise in prices on the eve of "reduction".
