Bulgarian Pharmacists Mull Legal Action Against Mark-up Cuts
Bulgarian pharmacists are considering taking legal action against the government for cutting their retail mark-up rates and complaining to EU institutions about the government's fuzzy pricing policy and the redistribution through administrative measures of the domestic retail and wholesale drug market.
Earlier this week, the government approved a 2.0 percentage-point reduction in the mark-ups charged by pharmacies and distributors, news portal mediapool.bg reported on Thursday.
The pharmacists insist that the move would not result in cheaper drugs and will only make life difficult for the smaller pharmacies kept in business by their retail mark-ups.
Instead of the crowd-pleasing measures taken by the government, they propose to set a minimum requirement for generic drugs in the prescriptions filled out by general practitioners as one option for easing the cost burden on patients.