Armenian taxi drivers import law quality and fake medicine from Georgia
President of the Union of Medicine Producers and Importers of Armenia Samvel Zakaryan considers the approval of amendments in the law “On medicine” by the NA with the first reading to be great success. Today during the meeting with journalist he also noted that the legislative amendments will regulate the medicine market. Will the issue of monopolies be also solved? According to Mr. Zakaryan there is no monopoly in the sector, “We have 43 importing companies. Each company, which has import licenses, has certain agreement with that foreign manufacturer. At present, for example, Tamiflu medicine has agreement with Natali Pharm, and it imports that medicine. What relates to monopoly, they aren’t monopolies but large importers: there may be another small company, which imports only one medicine, but it doesn’t mean that the company has exclusive right of importing that medicine, simply it has the agreement, which, for example, Natali Pharm doesn’t have. More, the given small company or an individual may sell the following medicine to Natali Pharm as a distributor.” Samvel Zakaryan also spoke about Armenian, domestic medicine, which, according to him, has better quality, “It can be even up to 10 times cheaper that the imported medicine. I am concerned about the fact that until now low quality and fake medicine imported from Georgia is sold in Armenia. I have recently come back from Tbilisi, where I visited the small pharmacy at the station, from where Armenian taxi drivers mainly import those medications. The amount of medicine imported from Georgia has reached frightening numbers. We have spoken about it for years, but nothing has been done about it. Medicine brought from Georgia can be a serious danger to the lives of the citizens: during their transfer to Armenia their dates of storage aren’t maintained.”
