Drug law reforms were half way

Project 841 that reforms Law on drugsit was finally reduced, when it was approved by the Plenary Session of the National Assembly.

And that’s it related to the procurement of medicineswhich is a neuralgic part of the problems faced by patients due to the lack of HZZO and Ministry of Health (Minsa) pharmacies, was dropped from the bill.

This new turn of the helm is due to the fact that The Technical Council for Medicines, under the leadership of the Executive, approved the presentation of the law on the procurement of medicinesdespite the fact that the Legislative Project included significant reforms on this important issue.

More than 80 articles were eliminated and that they related to issues such as the determination of profit margins for distributors and pharmacies of up to 40% on the purchase price.

It was others who established a system of supply of medicines, medical devices and medical supplies and the one who created a the national commission for procurement and supply of these products.

Also, creating a Unique list of medicines and the article requiring Chief Controller in order to speed up the approval of drug contracts.

which is approved

Among the approved reforms is the ease of submitting drug approval certificates high standard countrieswhich seeks to expand the catalog of purchases in safe markets.’

The Assembly is considering reforms to the Medicines Act from mid-2021.

At the end of February 2022, the Executive installed a technical table to analyze the same topic.

In the second debate, Project 841 was approved with 38 votes in favor and none against.

Law 1 of 2001 regulates this topic.

Other than that, approved a special account in favor of the Administration for Pharmacy and Medicineswhose funds will be non-transferable and may not be used for expenses of a different nature.

Similarly, create a Drug reference sample bankpharmaceutical products and pesticides for domestic use, by laboratories for analysis and those reference authorized by Pharmacies and Drugs.

Another approved article refers to University of Panama include in your budget, items necessary for proper functioning Specialized Institute for Analysisone of the reference centers for drugs in the country.

In order to preserve the safety of medicines and avoid tragedies like the one with diethylene glycol, Article 53 was approved, which stipulates that those laboratories that to import raw materials for the production of medicines You will be responsible for analyzing the quality when it arrives at your warehouses and keeping the certificate of analysis on file for two years.