Kazakhstan has removed more than 1,200 medicines from its price regulation list — these are inexpensive prescription drugs costing less than one monthly calculation index. According to Marina Durmanova, president of the Association for Support and Development of Pharmaceutical Activity, increased competition could drive down prices for these medicines, infohub.kz reports.
She noted that the number of items subject to price regulation has dropped from 3,039 to 1,827. The current phase of deregulation covers prescription drugs priced below 1 MCI (4,325 tenge in 2026).
"Why is less than 1 MCI so important? Because it's the cheap segment. And it's these drugs that may become even cheaper. Because the market is competition. So if these drugs are removed from price regulation, competition will help lower prices," she explained.
According to Durmanova, this will also lead to increased supply volumes for these medicines.
"This means that such drugs will enter the Kazakh market in a wider range. Accordingly, this will also help the development of the pharmaceutical industry and the pharmaceutical sector as a whole. That's why we say that medicines may become cheaper," she emphasized.
Durmanova recalled that the course toward gradual deregulation of medicine prices was outlined in the President of Kazakhstan's Address back in 2022. After that, amendments were made to the Code "On Public Health and the Healthcare System" regarding the deregulation of medicine prices, and a Roadmap for the development of competition in healthcare was developed.
"Kursiv" previously reported that the Ministry of Health is removing drugs priced below 4,325 tenge from state control.