During a meeting between the government’s Price Commission and pharmaceutical companies, Irakli Margvelashvili, head of the Association of International Pharmaceutical Companies, said there is always room to reduce medicine prices through collaboration.
“The resource always exists through cooperation. We are talking about fair prices. The regulation of price formation in Georgia has been ongoing for several years. This discussion is likely about improving the process, refining the methodology, and expanding it to additional groups of medicines,” Margvelashvili said.
He added that approximately 7,000 medicines in Georgia are already covered by reference pricing, meaning their prices are regulated through an external reference system. On the first stage, discussions may focus on prescription drugs and medicines for chronic conditions, with attention to social impact and state-supported programs that ensure patient access.
Since the introduction of reference pricing, 21 member companies of the association have achieved average price reductions of 30–40%, with some medicines seeing even larger decreases over the past three years.
The Price Commission, chaired by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, has held several sessions this month with supermarkets, distributors, manufacturers, and plans meetings with fuel companies later this week.
