Price drops across 11 medicines

The price shifts as announced by Fair Competition and Small Businesses Minister Jason Azzopardi in a government statement, are as follows:

Ceclor (antibiotic) - 500mg tablets x 10 – dropped from €14.56 to €13.80.

Ceclor (antibiotic) - 750mg tablets x 10 – dropped from €19.90 to €18.95.

Ceclor (antibiotic) - powder for 125mg/100ml oral suspension – dropped from €8.11 to €7.70.

Flucozal (for fungal infections) - 150mg capsule x 1 – dropped from €9.48 to €8.95.

Fortum (antibiotic) - 1g powder for solution for injection x 1 vial – dropped from €20.50 to €19.51.

Keflex (antibiotic) - 500mg tablets x 20 – dropped from €10.98 to €10.45.

Mirena with Evoinserter (contraceptive) - 20 miċrograms/24 hours intrauterine delivery system – dropped from €196.73 to €192.73.

Mivacron (muscle relaxant) - 10mg/5ml solution for injections x 5 ampoules – dropped from €25.46 to €24.80.

Seretide Diskus (for respiratory conditions) - 50µg/100µg/m.d. Inhaler x 60 m.d. X 1 inhaler – dropped from €34.80 to €32.88.

Tyverb (for breast cancer) - 250mg film-coated tablets x 70 – dropped from €1,580 to €1,419.

Xarelto (anti-coagulant) - 10mg film-coated tablets x 10 – dropped from €62.91 to €35.83.

Azzopardi said that there are currently around 92,500 people who are benefiting from free medicines from the POYC scheme, a number that is expected to increases to 120,000 in the coming days.

He said that this is because the POYC is in its final stages, and is being extended to cover all localities in Malta.

Regarding the drops in medicine prices, Azzopardi said that over the past five years, government entered into agreements with several importers to reduce prices across 287 medicines.

He added that talks are ongoing to further reduce prices on more medicines, insisting that the price drops announced today represent decreases of up to 43% in the case of some medicines.

Azzopardi  who said that according to the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), over a million organisations from 178 different countries have achieved the ISO 9001 certification.

He also added that the Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority is the only local organization capable of awarding the ISO 9001 accreditation, adding that “very soon” the organization will also be able to start offering services related to the OHSA 18001 certification.

Azzopardi said that the ISO 9001 certification can be used by any organization, large or small, and irrespective of the nature of its operations. He said that the OHSA 18001 is an internationally-recognised standard for health management and safety on the work place.