site.btaBulgaria Import Most Medicines from Romania

Romania is the country from which Bulgaria imports the most medicines, said Friday the Director of the Bulgarian Association for Medicines Parallel Trade Development, Boryana Marinkova. Bulgaria has deregistrated 639 medicines in the last two years while a total of 3,000 medicines were withdrawn from the local market between 2014 and 2022, she added.

A 2020 study shows that 52% of parallel imports to countries like Bulgaria are sourced by France, Germany and the UK. More than half of parallel imports are generated by high-income countries - Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the UK.

Parallel distribution is the distribution of a centrally authorized medicinal product from one state to another by a pharmaceutical company independent of the marketing-authorization holder. It is based on a concept that encourages the movement of medicines from a market where they are available to a market where they are not. If the medicines in Bulgaria were indeed the cheapest, imports would not be possible, Marinkova added.

When competition is present, there's only downward pressure on the prices, and it has been proven that price differences generate huge savings both for the patients and the health system, Marinkova added.

Small countries experience shortages more often than large ones, and the tighter the regulatory regimes, the more acute the shortages.

In Bulgaria, 95% of the deregistered medicines are withdrawn for commercial reasons, she said.