Prices of drugs used daily rising steadily

Star: PETALING JAYA: Malaysians are finding it tough to swallow that prices of commonly used imported drugs have been rising by up to 28% annually for the past 10 years and the trend is expected to continue in the coming years.
Among the popular drugs that have gone up in prices are diabetic and birth control pills, medicines to treat erectile dysfunction, and cholesterol and hypertension pills.
“The annual rise in the prices is inevitable and as retailers, we are finding it hard to explain to consumers that we depend on suppliers who in turn depend on multinational companies to import the drugs,” said Farik Abdul Rahman, a pharmacist at an independent pharmacy in Taman Melawati here.
“The reasons given for the increase include higher foreign exchange rates, escalating oil prices or more expensive raw material.
“Demand for fast-moving drugs for diseases like diabetes, hypertension, hyper cholesterol, heart ailments and asthma is on the rise and patients have to buy them as they cannot do without their medicine,” he said.
Farik added that there were times independent pharmacies were forced to sell items cheaply even if it meant lower profits, as the recommended sale price was too high.
He cited the example of inhalers for asthmatics that cost RM19.90 a unit when the recommended retail price was RM30. Retailers get the inhalers at RM18.90 each.
Another pharmacist in Ampang Jaya, who declined to be named said she could not imagine the price of drugs in the next 10 years because a major crisis anywhere in the world would push the prices up ridiculously high like during the economic crisis in 1997.
Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said: “Very restricted studies have been done. We collect information on the price of essential drugs every three to six months to monitor the prices of all these drugs.”
He added that there has been no comprehensive study on the price range of consumer drugs which number more than a thousand.
A spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Association of Malaysia said the association was not involved in individual member company’s pricing policy and therefore was unable to comment on the matter.
However, Malaysian Organisation of Pharmaceutical Industries (Mopi) vice-president Jimmy Piong said there was only a 5% to 10% increase in prices for generic drugs.
“This increase is hardly felt by consumers and I think the price progression is minimal and has little impact on the market,” he said.