Affordable Medicines Program: the new register includes 59 fully reimbursable medicines

The new list of fully and partially reimbursable medicines included in the Affordable Medicines program contains 261 trade name, which is 22 more than in the previous register.

On August 3, 2018, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine approved the new register of medicines included in the Affordable Medicines Prescription Drug Cost Reimbursement Program providing for full or partial reimbursement of essential medicines for treatment of cardiovascular diseases, asthma and diabetes mellitus type 2 (also known as type 2 diabetes) – Order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine NO. 1446 dated August 3, 2018 (available in Ukrainian).

The updated register includes 261 trade name, 59 of which are fully reimbursable. For comparison, the previous register included 239 trade names, 47 of which were fully reimbursable.

According to estimates, the number of reimbursable medicine packs released to patients will also increase. In particular, it is expected that patients will receive over 14 million of packs of reimbursable medicines in the next six months. For comparison, 10 million packs were released to patients in the past six months.

"The Affordable Medicines Program is an example of successful reimbursement policy. Millions of Ukrainians monthly benefit from it and receive prescription medicines for free or at a substantial discount. The program continues to develop dynamically – the list of reimbursable medicines expands and the prices for these medicines get lower.  Manufacturers reduce prices on their own initiative in order to get into the program," noted Roman Ilyk, deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine.

The new register of reimbursable medicines includes medicines produced by both Ukrainian and foreign manufacturers. For example, KRKA (Slovenia), Orion (Finland) and AstraZeneca (Sweden). Some of these companies have reduced the prices significantly (by up to 72%).

On average, the prices for medicines included in the reimbursement program have been lowered by 7%.

Since its launch, the Program has provided essential medicines to many patients with cardiovascular diseases, asthma and type 2 diabetes: about 23 million prescriptions worth over 1 billion UAH. Currently, 7 808 pharmacies nationwide participate in this program, which means that every third pharmacy releases fully or partially reimbursable medicines to patients upon a correct prescription.

Detailed information about the Program and the map of participating pharmacies: http://en.moz.gov.ua/affordable-medicines

The Affordable Medicines website (in Ukrainian): http://liky.gov.ua/