Pharmacies call for liberalisation

Pharmacies in Qatar have expressed their reservations at the proposed new drug law in Qatar, calling for liberalisation, saying the market is already too fragile and suffers from high rents and overhead costs.

The Cabinet approved a draft law, pertaining to the functioning of pharmacies and pricing of pharmaceutical products, in the first week of September.

The approved draft calls for abolishing Law No. 7 of 1990 on pricing medical and pharmaceutical products and control of prices; a draft law amending some provisions of Law No. 1 of 1986 on registration of the drug companies and their products and a draft law amending some provisions of Law No. 3 of 1983 regulating pharmacy jobs, brokers and agents for factories and pharmaceutical companies.

“It will not work. Medicinal products are not vegetables. They can’t be imported by anyone into the country. From the right transportation environment to temperature, everything has to be followed,” a pharmacy trader said yesterday.

All medicines being imported into Qatar have to be on the health authorities’ approved list. The stringent laws go on to define even the country of origin for all medicines being imported.

“For example, Zantac made in the UK can be imported, but the Zantac made in Egypt can’t,” the trader said.

The move could eventually lead to liberalisation of how pharmaceutical products are traded in Qatar though, traders and distributors admitted.

There are less than two dozen distributors (agencies) in Qatar, while the number of pharmacies in the country is estimated to be around 150. The distributors are legally allowed a margin of 12% while pharmacies can charge up to 20%.

However, concerns remain at this stage, owing to the early stages of the discussion.

“Even after the liberalisation, an international pharmaceutical manufacturer may never want to change the distributor in Qatar. Only a handful may change their agencies. The status quo is likely to continue,” another official, that of a distributorship said.

“But then these new entities (agencies) have to follow the commercial registration processes of other laws to start business,” he said.

Another industry official, a pharmacist feared overall profits may start to dip if the draft law is implemented causing pharmacies to go out of business.

“If I’m selling 5,000 medicines a day now, it may come down to 4,000 a day, thanks to new entrants in the market. It will be impossible to continue then,” the official said.

According to him, rents for pharmacies have increased substantially since 2000. For example, his company pays QR15,000 monthly for shop rent alone in Rayyan.

“If the monthly sales are QR300,000, we make QR8,000 at the end of the month,” he said taking into consideration the cost of purchasing medicines, staff salaries and rent.