Proposals for the commercialisation of generics move forward in Chile

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Proposals for the commercialisation of generics move forward in Chile

Home/Policies & Legislation | Posted 02/07/2021 0 Post your comment

The project known as the Medicines Law 2, led by a Joint Commission, seeks to settle discrepancies between senators and deputies regarding the sale of bioequivalent and generic medicines in Chile. The project, which is in its third stage, amends the Health Code to regulate generic drugs in order to prevent the vertical integration of pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies. In this way, it seeks to solve some pending issues left by the current drug legislation.

The project covers issues such as the obligation for doctors to prescribe a medicine using the International Nonproprietary Name (INN), the requirement to make generics available to customers and to provide for price monitoring.

The following is a summary of some of the options being considered for setting prices, one of which could become a reality once the Joint Committee determines it:

Price Monitoring and Price Band: originally the Executive spoke of this alternative by appealing to foreign legislation. The idea is to keep monitoring the price of the medicines most in demand by the population, analyse the data to identify the highest and lowest prices, draw an average and establish price bands (maximum and minimum to be charged).
Cenabast Law: this legislation allows independent pharmacies or small chains to buy directly from La Central de Abastecimiento del Sistema Nacional de Servicios de Salud (CENABAST), which means that their costs are considerably reduced. If this criterion was to be used, it should be extended to pharmacy chains. This method aims to ensure that these cost reductions are passed on to customers.
Proposal by the National Economic Prosecutor's Office (FNE): the office proposed dividing the drug fee into two parts. The first corresponds to the single dispensing charge (standard cost of sale) and the second to the acquisition cost of the medicine (what it costs the pharmacy to buy the medicine). Under this logic, it would not be in the pharmacy's interest to sell the most expensive medicines, but simply to sell.

Editor’s comment
Readers interested to learn more about generics in developing countries are invited to visit www.gabi-journal.net to view the following manuscript published in GaBI Journal:

Strategies for pricing of pharmaceuticals and generics in developing countries

GaBI Journal is indexed in Embase, Scopus, Emerging Sources Citation Index and more.

Readers interested in contributing a research or perspective paper to GaBI Journal – an independent, peer reviewed academic journal – please submit your manuscript here.

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LATIN AMERICAN FORUM The brand-new section the ‘Latin American Forum’ on GaBI has been launched. The objective of this new section is to provide you with all the latest news and updates on developments of generic and biosimilar medicines in Latin America in Spanish. View this week’s headline article: La Epoetina biosimilar en Estados Unidos – obstáculos y recomendaciones Browse the news in the Latin American Forum! Register to receive the GaBI Latin American Forum newsletter. Inform colleagues and friends of this new initiative. LATIN AMERICAN FORUM Se ha lanzado la nueva sección del ‘Foro Latinoamericano’ sobre GaBI. El objetivo de esta nueva sección es brindarle las últimas noticias y actualizaciones sobre desarrollos de medicamentos genéricos y biosimilares en América Latina en español. Vea el artículo principal de esta semana: La Epoetina biosimilar en Estados Unidos – obstáculos y recomendaciones Explore las noticias en el Foro Latinoamericano! Regístrese para recibir el boletín informativo GaBI Latin American Forum. Informe a colegas y amigos sobre esta nueva iniciativa.

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