Writing in today’s Diario Libre, Victor Bautista compares the cost of pharmaceuticals in the DR and abroad. He comments that a friend of his purchased Cozaar in Spain for the equivalent of RD$630.25 when this sells for RD$2,100 in the DR. Another drug, Crestor, was bought for the equivalent of RD$1,339.47 when this sells locally for RD$2,234.
Bautista says that while in Spain, the patient will most probably not have to pay as these will be covered by Social Security, this is not the case here. He said that World Health Organization studies showed that medicines in the DR were the second most expensive worldwide. And he asks: “Where is this topic on the list of empty talk of the politicians?”
Bautista adds that more than 23,000 pharmaceutics are registered in the country, and of these only 16% or 3,680 are generic, which should be less costly but just as effective as the patented pharmaceuticals.
In his analysis he also mentions that there are around 150 pharmaceutical companies in the country, of which 39 are Dominican, or 26%. “Is this the composition of this market that turns over RD$7.8 million in sales that determines the price of the pharmaceuticals and the death of those who can’t afford these pharmaceuticals?”
He also asks, “Or is this the result of a state that is incapable of regulating, that has political leadership that plays on the pharmaceutical companies side of the game and with a private sector that has found fertile ground in the chaos to multiply their profitability?”