The prices of several hundred medicines could soon be lowered. A first list of around 300 products has been approved as part of the reform of medicine prices, according to a source at the Ministry of Health.
The announced cuts range from 10% to 70%, but the names of the medicines concerned have not yet been made public. They will be identified once the official text setting out the new price schedule is published.
The measure is part of a broader overhaul of the mechanism used to review medicine prices.
The review period will be shortened from five to three years to allow prices to be updated more regularly. Authorities are also introducing a new rule for medicines with a manufacturer price above 300 dirhams: the price used will now be the lowest recorded among the reference countries used by Morocco.
The change mainly concerns more expensive treatments, for which international price differences can be significant.
The Ministry of Health estimates that the reform as a whole could generate more than 1 billion dirhams in savings.
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According to estimates presented by the minister, around 250 million dirhams should directly benefit patients through lower out-of-pocket costs. People undergoing long-term treatment are among those most likely to feel the impact.
No medicine can currently be identified as being included in this first round of price cuts.
Publication of the official text will make it possible to identify the medicines concerned and their new prices, which will be essential for patients to assess the reform’s actual impact on their treatment.
The publication of the first list will be the next step in the reform, specifying which medicines are concerned and the level of the price cut applicable to each one.
