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Medicine prices set to drop with Peru-US FTA

LivingInPeru
Isabel Guerra

According to Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur), medicine prices in Peru are likely to drop thanks to the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States.

“There is no reason to say that medicine prices will rise because the FTA has entered into force, we are sure prices will drop due to lower import tariffs,” Peruvian Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Mercedes Araoz said.

Peru’s Association of National Pharmaceutical Industries (Adifan) had said that the reform of Health General Law would imply that laboratories should pay 1,2 billion soles for studies made to certify that Peruvian medicines fulfill requirements of duration and quality in temperatures up to 30 degrees, which represents additional production costs.

Peruvian Minister denied this argument and said “They (Adifan) know that their problem is not related to fulfill bio-equivalences, but to compete against other products with better prices.”

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# Anonymous Dave says :
21 April, 2009 [ 09:01 ]

Peru charged import tarrifs on medicines?
They could have dropped that poor-punishing weak-taxing measure with or without any FTA.

# Rachel in Peru says :
21 April, 2009 [ 09:10 ]

Maybe they are announcing this to counter the claim that the FTA with the U.S. is set to increase the cost of medicine in Peru.

Which is it?

# Michael Lukich says :
21 April, 2009 [ 09:44 ]

The price drop will probably only b for name-brand medicines. Many generic brands do not come from US so these prices should stay the same.
Just a guess.

# Micah Cantley says :
21 April, 2009 [ 10:14 ]

I've been buying medicines in Peru for years at prices much lower than what they can be found for in the U.S. Additionally, many medicines available over the counter in Peru are by prescription only in the U.S., which is part of the reason why the costs in the U.S. are higher.

Those medicines that are still only available as brand-names (no generics) are expensive by Peruvian standards, but are not more expensive than they are in the U.S.

The article in and of itself doesn't make a lot of sense- it speaks of medicine prices, jumps into something about testing and research, and then shelf life and stability at certain temperatures.

If anything, this is implying that the cost of exporting Peruvian medicines to the U.S. will increase, and as a result prices of the same medicines will rise in Peru in order to absorb some of the cost. If this is the case I am curious as to what medicines the U.S. would like to import from Peru?

And, seeing as how many medicines available in Peru come from Chile, Argentina, and Venezuela, I don't understand the affects being described.

# John in USA says :
21 April, 2009 [ 16:26 ]

We found some medicines in Peru that were effective and cheaper than we pay in the U.S. I hope soon you have Asacol in Peru so we can save money. It cost approx. $700.00 for the adaguate 3 month supply in the U.S.A. at 6 pills a day. In Canada by mail and when they have a promotion,we pay only about $125.00 for a 1 month supply. I believe this same brand,(not generic),would be cheaper in Peru if and when avaliable.I hope the American companies do offer an excellent program for your pharmacies and both governments allow for your affordability with very minimal profit.

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