Bulgarian Medication Prices to Go Up over Illegal Export

Medication prices in Bulgaria are lower than those in many other EU Member States, causing their illegal export. Photo by BGNES

The prices of some medications sold over the counter in Bulgaria can go up significantly over their illegal reexport, the Association of Pharmacy Owners alarms Tuesday.

According to unofficial data, the illegal export of medications has anywhere between 8% and 10% share of the entire medication market in Bulgaria. The export is from Bulgarian pharmacies mainly to Poland, Germany and the UK because medication prices in Bulgaria are lower than those in the EU.

The Association's Chair, Nikolay Kostov, says the only way to stop the illegal export is to raise prices to the European levels.

Kostov explains the scam as clear and easy with a certain pharmacy purchasing 20 000 packs from the distributor and then reexporting them directly to other distributors in the EU.

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