Remedy it costs 35 percent less than the industry

Before placing a product on the market, the pharmaceutical industries need to decide the maximum price to be charged — a task that has to be held in conjunction with the Board of market regulation of Medicines (CMED), an organ linked to national health surveillance agency (Anvisa). Is to imagine that, in these proceedings, disagreements between the values required by the industry and the Government released occur all the time. Study conducted by CMED — and published exclusively by BRASIL ECONOMICO — confirms this idea.
The survey pointed out that, since the current pricing rule went into effect in 2004, the authorized values were, on average, 35% lower than required by the companies. "It is absolutely natural for this to happen. The problem in this case, it is not the legislation that is in line with that of other countries, but the execution. As usually happens in the industry, the implementation difficulties hinder the creation of an environment that encourages innovation ",
says Antonio Britto, President of Interfarma, an organization that brings together companies in the industry.
Among the industries that have greater difficulty for approval of desired values, are those with increased investment in innovation. According to the study, only 7% of registered products in the category I — one that brings together the medicines with the highest degree of innovation — unqualified were approved by Anvisa. In the list of applications in this category analyzed by organ, there are drugs developed by global giants such as Pfizer, Roche and Bayer. Companies chose not to comment on the issue.
According to Interfarma, behind the differences between the values proposed by the industry and accepted by Anvisa is not an erroneous trade policy of the companies and even an exaggerated attempt to maximize gains.
"When you consider that the difference between the values is 35%, and that the industry's tax burden is around 32%, you can begin to understand where the problem is in fact," says Bassett.
Whatever the reason behind the differences, the absolute majority of price registration requests are rejected by Anvisa, even when there are high levels of innovation in the product. Of the more than 1.1 million cases already examined by the Court, only 33% of the cases had approved values as suggested by the industry.
"To get a higher price, companies often try to prove additional benefits of medication that, when we investigate, does not always constitute in practice," says Gabrielle Troncoso, Manager of economic evaluation of new technologies of Anvisa and responsible for the study.
Changes in long term
Although the difference between the desired values by industry and approved are still large, the Anvisa sees an evolution.
"In the beginning, the discrepancies were much larger. I believe that the trend is for the industry to adapt better to the standards, "says Gabrielle. According to her, in cases where the only criterion considered is the price
practiced in other countries, the differences of values are already very small. "Are public data, the industry has access before we present the project."
For Bassett, of Interfarma, the trend is that the market move towards less regulation. "The change should be gradual, starting in the sectors more competitive, but it will be good, since the Government has a huge bureaucratic burden for controlling absolutely everything."