According to EnergyProm, in July 2023, pharmaceutical products in Kazakhstan rose by 0.2% per month and 10.8% per year.
The largest monthly price increase was recorded in Pavlodar region: by 1.2%. This is followed by Ulytau region (plus 0.7% for the month), East Kazakhstan region, Zhambyl region, Zhetysy region and Kostanay region (plus 0.6% in each region). In Atyrau and Akmola regions, prices remained unchanged. In Turkestan, Karaganda and Almaty regions, on the contrary, prices slightly decreased: by 0.4%, 0.3% and 0.1%, respectively.
In terms of annual dynamics, the largest annual price increase was recorded in Almaty: plus 18% over the year. Ulytau (plus 15.4%) and Kyzylorda (plus 14.9%) regions were also among the three anti-leaders. The smallest annual price increase was recorded in Zhetysy region: by 5.9%.
Which drugs have risen in price?
Among pharmaceutical products, paracetamol went up by 2.4% month-on-month, Essentiale Forte H by 1.6%, Phenistil New drops by 1.3%, Enap by 0.9%, and activated charcoal by 0.7%. The prices of such products as acyclovir (by 0.7%), azithromycin and Ingavirin (by 0.6%), Smekta (by 0.5%), Corvalol (by 0.4%), Rennie, Aqualor Forte spray (by 0.3%), Iodomarin and acetylsalicylic acid (by 0.2%), and Nurofen (by 0.1%) fell.
In the annual dynamics, the prices of paracetamol (by 58.2%), iodine solution (by 29.9%), Aqualor Forte spray (by 28.3%), ambroxol (by 21.5%), acetylsalicylic acid (by 18%), activated charcoal (by 17.8%), and acyclovir (by 16.5%) have risen significantly.
Meanwhile, public hearings were held in Astana to discuss the draft markup of a single distributor as a subject of special rights to medicines and medical devices within the framework of the GOBMP and the MHI system, inbusiness.kz reports. “SK-Pharmacy” wants to increase its margin by 11.2%. Representatives of specialized associations say that they do not understand why the increase will be made.
The level of supply of pharmaceuticals is low
In general, Kazakhstan is currently providing itself with pharmaceuticals at a rather low level.
In January-June of this year, the demand (domestic sales plus microscopic exports) for provitamins, vitamins and their derivatives was met by own production by only 0.02%.
During this period, the country produced only 43 kg of vitamins, although this is 48.3% more than a year earlier. For comparison, imports amounted to 173.2 tons (plus 10.4% over the year).
Demand for antibiotics was better met, but still only by 38.2%. Production of antibiotics reached 7.8 tons, up 11.2% year-on-year. At the same time, imports amounted to 12.7 tons, minus 50.7%. Accordingly, the share of imports amounted to 61.8% of resources. In the domestic market, 20.4 tons of antibiotics were sold, down 38% year-on-year (due to the decline in the coronavirus pandemic).
Kazakhstan imports medicines
In the first half of this year, Kazakhstan imported 13.9 thousand tons of medicines worth USD 694.2 million. US DOLLARS. In physical terms, the growth amounted to 11.9%, while in monetary terms, the volume of imports decreased by 3.7%.
Kazakhstan imported 4,000 tons of medicines from the CIS countries, 3.8% less than a year earlier.
Most of the medicines were imported from Russia: 2.9 thousand tons for USD 40.9 million. US DOLLARS.
Kazakhstan also imports significant amounts of medicines from Belarus and Ukraine: 609.9 and 413.3 tons, respectively.
The volume of imports from other non-CIS countries amounted to 9.9 thousand tons, which is 19.9% more than a year earlier. The top three countries were China (2.2 thousand tons), Germany (1.3 thousand tons) and India (1.2 thousand tons).
