On September 23, a press conference was held in the press center of the UNIAN news agency on the topic: “Collapse of the pharmaceutical market: suspension of licensing and its consequences for patients. Who will answer?”.

At the press conference, an assessment of the situation on the pharmaceutical market was given in connection with the suspension of the issuance of licenses for production, wholesale and retail trade, the import of medicinal products, and its consequences for business entities and providing the population with medicinal products.

In accordance with Resolution No. 609 of the CMU dated 08/05/2015, the functions of the licensing body for economic activity in the production, wholesale and retail trade, import of medicinal products are entrusted to the State Service of Ukraine for medicinal products and drug control, which has not yet been created. Currently, the relevant licenses are not issued, reissued or canceled.

Experts believe that the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine is in danger of collapse.

As representatives of the domestic pharmaceutical business told at a press conference in UNIAN, today economic entities cannot perform their functions, primarily, it is about a stable and uninterrupted supply of medicines, due to the lack of a balanced and consistent policy regarding the structural reform of state authorities.

Director of the Pharmacy Professional Association of Ukraine Volodymyr Rudenko noted that in accordance with Cabinet Resolution No. 609 of August 5, 2015, the function of licensing business activities in the production, wholesale and retail trade, import of medicinal products is entrusted to the State Service of Ukraine for Medicinal Products and Control for drugs, but it has not yet been created.

“Today, the relevant licenses are not issued, reissued or canceled. No organizational measure was implemented. The new service has not been created and is not active. As a result, the pharmaceutical market collapsed due to the impossibility of conducting business activities by pharmaceutical market participants. It is not possible to open new pharmacies, pharmacy warehouses, in particular, in rural areas. People bear losses, it affects the proper provision of medicines to people. At the same time, unscrupulous market participants can freely open illegal pharmacies. There is no control over this,” said Rudenko.

According to him, requests regarding the critical situation at the farm market were sent to the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministry of Health, but no response was received.

“This problem was discussed with the deputy ministers of the Ministry of Health Pavlenko and Shafransky, other powerful officials. For a month now, the pharmaceutical market has not been able to function normally. We see this as malicious intent. Someone wants to destabilize such an important social sphere as providing the population with medicines,” Rudenko emphasized.

He emphasized that the activity and coordination of the body, which should control the drug market, is directed through the Minister of Health.

“If desired, the Ministry of Health could influence the situation and regulate this situation a long time ago and make changes to the Cabinet’s resolution. But it only moves the arrows to the right, to the left, they just don’t recognize the peacock for changes behind them. The Ministry of Health needs to urgently and immediately initiate changes to Cabinet Resolution No. 609 and temporarily return the licensing functions to the State Service of Medicinal Products, which is currently being liquidated. Until a new service is created, its functions must be performed by someone. Also, the Cabinet of Ministers should agree on the name of the licensing authority, which has different names in several resolutions, in order to avoid legal conflicts in the future,” said Rudenko.

He called on the authorities of Ukraine to return “face to the people” and prevent failures in the provision of medicines to our population and hospitals.

Volodymyr Ignatov, Executive Director of the Association of Representatives of International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of Ukraine (AIPM UKRAINE), emphasized that today the import licensing procedure is an absolutely paper-based procedure.

“It does not make any sense (regarding quality control, economic relations). Due to the breakdown of state power, when the old service is liquidated and the new one is not created. During this period, the state completely lost control over the pharmaceutical market. There is no service that monitors the market. This poses a threat to everyone. A number of patients may soon be left without medication,” Ignatov emphasized.