Sharp rise in over-the-counter drug prices

Day after Finance Ministry lifts price supervision on drugs sold without prescription outside pharmacies, drug prices increase by dozens of percentages; Health Ministry: Price will decrease in future
Yehudit Yahav

One day after the Finance Ministry lifted the supervision on the prices of over-the-counter drugs, the prices of some of the drugs rose by dozens of percentages, Israel's leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday.

 

The most significant increase was noted in the prices of basic medications such as fever-lowering drugs and various ointments. For example, the price of Acamol tablets rose by 38 percent to NIS 13.90 (about USD 3).

 

Yossi Snir, director-general of the Pharmacists Union, demanded Monday that the Health Ministry and the Knesset's Labor Committee convene a meeting in order to discuss the drastic price increase.

 

"We warned that lifting the supervision would lead to a price increase and will hurt the public, and this is what happened," Snir said.

 

The drug companies, however, were pleased with the move.

 

Avi Oval, chairman of the Over-the-Counter Drug Association said that "lifting the supervision was a logical and required move. After the distribution of sale points is completed, the consumers will profit from a larger availability of drugs and from fair prices."

 

'Supervision lifted in order to improve availability'

 

The over-the-counter drug revolution came into force in May 2005, when the sale of such medications was permitted also outside pharmacies.

 

Health Ministry officials said in response to the price increase that "only 2 percent of all drugs sold in Israel were released of supervision in a bid to reach a price reduction in the future and to improve the drugs availability also after the pharmacies' working hours."

 

"All the drugs are also sold under supervision in the pharmacies, so the patients are not hurt by the move," an official said.

 

Rivak Freilich contributed to the report