Ana Paula Martins, speaking at the opening of the third National Pharmaceutical Distribution Congress in Oeiras, highlighted the importance of sustainability and announced that the medication annual price review legislation will be issued by November 15.
This announcement followed remarks by the president of the National Association of Pharmacies advocating for a price increase for the least expensive medications and revealing that only 250 users benefit from the distribution of medications in community pharmacies, which have the capacity to serve up to 200,000 users.
The minister also emphasized the significance of pharmaceutical distribution in maintaining territorial cohesion.
At the congress opening, the head of the Pharmacists’ Order, Helder Mota Filipe, underscored the “robustness of the distribution chain,” remarking that it was clearly evident during the pandemic when vaccines and other medications were delivered “safely and promptly” to citizens.
The president of the Association of Pharmaceutical Distributors (ADIFA), Nuno Flora, argued that local medication dispensation requires scale, evaluation, and stability, noting that the distribution sector is responsible for delivering 360 million packages of medicine and health products annually.
He also pointed out the need for “fair prices,” advocating for automatic price updates indexed to inflation.
