Learn how to check drug prices and identify abuse

On Wednesday (24), the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) launched a panel to consult drug prices. The purpose, according to the agency, is to make it more accessible to the population to verify the maximum values ​​authorized by the Medicines Market Regulation Chamber (CMED), the federal body responsible for regulating and monitoring the prices of medicines in Brazil.

Previously, the list of maximum prices allowed for the sale of medicines was available on the Anvisa portal and updated monthly. With the new panel, in addition to the list, consumers will be able to carry out more specific queries, using the name of the medicine, the active ingredient or the registration number.

In a statement, Anvisa reinforced that pharmacies, drugstores, laboratories, distributors and importers cannot charge a higher amount than that allowed by CMED. In April this year, CMED established a 4.5% increase in the value of medicines.

According to information released by Agência Brasil, if any irregularity is noticed by the consumer, the guidance is that a complaint be forwarded to CMED itself, “thus contributing to market monitoring and inhibiting overpricing practices by establishments”.

Anvisa highlighted that the panel aims to help consult drug prices, but does not replace the official lists published monthly by CMED through the Medicines Market Monitoring System.

Adjustment in drug prices

An analysis carried out by the Consumer Protection Institute (Idec) points out that the adjustment in the price of medicines, in force since April this year, may, in practice, be much higher than the 4.5% rate defined by CMED. This is because the percentage increase is applicable to the Maximum Consumer Price (PMC), that is, the maximum amount that pharmacies can charge customers for each medicine.

Pharmacies, however, rarely reach this value. The Idec study shows that, in practice, drugstores tend to charge a much lower value than the PMC for products and, therefore, always have room for increases outside the established annual adjustment index – which is generally linked to the period’s inflation. .

Given the scenario, even with the limitation of an adjustment ceiling, this index cannot prevent abusive increases if drugstores want to raise prices up to the PMC limit. According to an Idec survey in which the prices of 20 medicines were analyzed in the three largest pharmacy chains in the country, the value of a branded medicine can increase by more than 70% without violating the ceiling. In the case of generics, this increase can exceed 100%.

“The research has several interesting results, but the main one is the finding, once again, that medicine price regulation fails to protect consumers in practice. On average, the maximum prices allowed by regulation are very disconnected from the market reality, and this leaves room for pharmacies to adopt a series of abusive practices”, stated Marina Magalhães, researcher in the Idec Health program.

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