Medicines rise 5.6% as of this Friday; know how to save – 03/31/2023 – Market

Medicines will increase by 5.6% as of this Friday (31). The definition was made by Cmed (Chamber for Regulation of the Medicines Market) and published in an extra edition of the DOU (Official Gazette).

The adjustment is made once a year and, although pharmacies and drugstores can already apply it, the discharge will not necessarily be immediate, as it depends on each pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry.

“Normally the pharmaceutical takes ten days. The pharmacies depend on the stock and the commercial strategy that they have. Price increases can take months or not even happen”, says the executive president of Sindusfarma (Union of the Pharmaceutical Products Industry), Nelson Mussolini.

Last year, the authorized increase was 10.89%, the second highest since 2012. The readjustment is established by the IPCA (National Broad Consumer Price Index), which stood at 5.6% between March 2022 and February 2012. 2023. In addition to the index, Cmed takes into account factors such as competition, productivity and increase in products, which are not included in the calculation of the IPCA.

In seven states of the country, this will be the second time that medicines rise in price this year. In March, there was a readjustment in the states of Bahia, Piauí, Paraná, Pará, Sergipe, Amazonas and Roraima due to the increase in the ICMS (Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services) to compensate for the tax cut on gasoline and electricity, made by the government Bolsonaro.

The annual readjustment was the same for the three drug price levels, since the productivity factor was zeroed. It is the second consecutive year that there has been an increase in this way, which harms the consumer, since the different levels were a way of holding back the high increase in high-cost medicines.

The recommendation is that the consumer search in different establishments to take advantage of the best price. “It is necessary to compare prices, as there is a great variation according to the number of competitors. The tip is always to research”, states Mussolini.

Majority still do not research prices

Despite the recommendation, a survey carried out by Ifepec (Febrafar Institute of Corporate Research and Education) in partnership with Neit (Nucleus of Industrial and Technology Economy, of the Institute of Economics at Unicamp) shows that most pharmacy customers do not have the habit of searching.

The survey points out that 68.9% of consumers do not usually search in more than one pharmacy. The number is lower than that recorded in 2022, when it was 84.7%, but it is still the majority. Of the 4,000 Brazilians who responded, 17.8% did not research the day they made the purchase and only 13.3% made a comparison, either in person or over the internet.

In the same survey, 82.13% of respondents point out that price was the factor that weighed in defining the purchase, followed by location (10.25%), stock (3.40%) and Popular Pharmacy (2.15%). .

Another data that the survey indicates is the increase in people who no longer go to the pharmacy to buy the medicine. This year, 24.8% of customers said they purchased remotely, using WhatsApp, phone or internet. The number is almost 50% higher than in 2022, when 16.8% claimed to have made the purchase without going to the pharmacy.

What if the medicine rises above 5.6%?

If the consumer notices an increase greater than that established, he must report it to Cmed through Anvisa’s communication channels. He will also need to hand over a number of documents on the complaint. See what they are:

• Copy of the Price Registration Minutes, or equivalent document, containing the product purchased, the Anvisa registration number, description of the presentation of the medicine, identification of the supplier, expected price for the acquisition and price obtained at the event
• Copy of court decision (if applicable)
• Copy of the proposals submitted by each of the companies participating in the bidding
• Copy of invoice
• If there is a refusal to quote PMVG prices (Maximum Sales Price to the Government), in addition to the documents mentioned above, the request for a quote from the body responsible for the intended acquisition and, if any, the refusal of the supplier to quote prices based on the PMVG
• Copy of document proving the existence of a contract that deals with the granting of exclusive rights on the sale signed between the company producing the medication and the distributor, if any
• Any other document that the complainant deems convenient