Frost & Sullivan: Lack of Proper Price Regulation for Pharmaceuticals

Frost & Sullivan: Lack of Proper Price Regulation for Pharmaceuticals PR Newswire CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Nov. 12, 2012 - The Implications on Health Costs for Malawi, Mauritius and Zimbabwe CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Nov. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Given the high burden of Sub-Saharan Africa's infectious diseases, improvements in healthcare systems are crucial to addressing these underlying issues. A lack of proper price regulations for essential medicine, however, remains a key challenge, threatening accessibility of medicine and continuing to place strain on out-of-pocket payments for pharmaceuticals. Prices vary significantly within many Sub-Saharan Africa countries, as pharmaceutical products move down the value chain. Wholesalers and distributors in Zimbabwe for instance, add mark-ups of as much as 43% for branded and generic drugs, while innovator drugs are marked up as high as 45%. The same situation is evident in Malawi. Retail pharmacies add price mark-ups of approximately 35% for innovator and branded generic drugs, while generic drugs are marked up by an average of 25%. "Given the high reliance on out-of-pocket expenditure for healthcare (approximately 72.4% for the Sub-Saharan Africa region) the ultimate burden of these high drug prices rests on private consumers who have to spend more for their medication," stated Frost & Sullivan's Healthcare Research Analyst Kudzai Moyo. Health expenditure per capita in Malawi and Zimbabwe is $19.00 and $78.