Medicines should increase by 5.6% this year – 03/27/2023 – Market

Medicines should rise 5.6% from April, according to an estimate by Sindusfarma (Union of the Pharmaceutical Products Industry). The readjustment is made once a year and will be defined by the CMED (Chamber of Regulation of the Medicines Market) this Friday (31).

The increase takes effect after publication in the Official Gazette (DOU), which should occur on April 3. However, it will not necessarily be immediate, as it depends on each pharmacy and 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”, highlights the executive president of Sindusfarma, Nelson Mussolini, who recommends the consumer to research the prices.

Last year, the authorized increase was 10.89%, the second highest since 2012. The adjustment is basically established by the IPCA (National Broad Consumer Price Index), which was 5.6% between March 2022 and February de 2023. In addition to the index, CMED takes into account factors such as competition, productivity and increase in products that 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 an adjustment in Bahia, Piauí, Paraná, Pará, Sergipe, Amazonas and Roraima due to the increase in ICMS (Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services).

According to Sindusfarma, the expectation is that the readjustment does not have different levels. “As the productivity factor was zero, the increase should be linear this year. However, it does not mean that every drug will rise by 5.6%. If there is a drug with a lot of competition from generics, the industry usually increases as little as possible”, he explains. Mussolini.

Until 2021, there were three levels of increase depending on the number of competitors: the more options, the higher the limit. In practice, the measure should harm the consumer, since the different levels were a way to hold the high prices of certain types of medicine.

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 in the complaint

• 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