Medicine registration process simplified in Azerbaijan

In accordance with the order of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan to improve the social well-being of the country's population and develop the field of pharmaceuticals, systematic measures are being continued to further improve the supply of medicines.

To reduce dependence on imports and localize production by meeting the demand for pharmaceutical products at the expense of local production, new production facilities are being created, as well as legislation is being improved. The Law "On Medicines" changed the mechanism of regulating the prices of medicines and established the recognition of foreign registration of medicines. The foreign registration of a medicinal product means the inclusion in the state register of medicinal products manufactured, authorized for sale, and use in the countries whose list is determined by the Cabinet of Ministers. This process is based on the results of a simplified examination.

By the Decree of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev dated August 15, 2023, the Tariff (Price) Council was instructed to approve the tariffs of simplified expertise services of medicinal products. It is worth noting that the tariff change does not affect the price of medicines.

At the last meeting of the Tariff (price) Council, the simplified examination tariffs were reduced to 20-29 percent from the existing tariffs. Conventional expertise rates are up to 20% higher than the current rates. Besides, according to the amendment to the Law "On Medicines", the duration of specialized expertise services for the registration of medicines has been reduced from 210 days to 90 days.

In addition, according to the results of the simplified examination on the recognition of foreign registration, the documents required for medicinal products entered into the state register have been reduced. A short period of 11 working days has been determined for the simplified examination.

These will improve the supply of medicines by making the registration, re-registration and import of medicines more efficient. This will motivate importers to import high-quality, efficacy-proven medicines to the country.

Speaking to Azernews on the issue, Economist Eyyub Karimli noted that as is known, Azerbaijan's annual drug import is more than 600 million dollars. He emphasized that more than 95 percent of drugs come from abroad. Taking these into account, both the reduction of registration rates and the procedure of reducing the time are among the reforms carried out in this field.

“These reforms will also increase the attention and interest of other entrepreneurs as well. I would like to mention that the latest decisions of the tariff council undoubtedly had certain positive effects on the field of pharmaceuticals. In this regard, it should be noted that, of course, price reduction can create great competition in this field. Basically, it can allow the import of more varieties and types of these drugs in the country, as well as better quality drugs from different countries. It goes without saying that, this in turn will lead to competition. Taking into account the formation of prices based on supply and demand, it will lead to the provision of better quality services to the population at a more affordable price.,” Eyyub Kerimli said.

He added that in simple words, the people of Azerbaijan will get medicines from different countries and different manufacturers at a cheaper price. Because due to the competition, manufacturers and importing companies lower their prices more.