site.btaCentral, East European Ministers Want to Negotiate Medicines Together

Central, East European Ministers Want to Negotiate Medicines Together

Sofia, June 3 (BTA) - Central and East European countries want to conduct negotiations related to medical supplies together, Health Minister Peter Moskov told journalists Friday. He was speaking in the wake of a meeting between ministers and representatives of 11 countries, including nine EU members.

The objective of the meeting was to consider the ways of possible negotiation of better conditions and lower prices of innovative technologies in the field of oncology, rare diseases and, probably, vaccines, the ministers said. The individual small states are small markets, but joint negotiation with the powerful pharmaceutical companies would bring the prices of drugs down. The growth of costs for drugs compared to the GDP growth of these countries is incomparable, Moskov said. They should join efforts against this situation, the Health Minister added, and pointed out that they have a total population of 100 million.

The next meeting, which is scheduled for July in Romania, will discuss the next steps to be taken and the participants have set optimistic working deadlines, Moskov added.