“Loud Promises, Empty Shelves: Why Drug Prices Still Aren’t Falling”

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Recent moves by the Ministry of Health and the National Security and Defense Council, aimed at making medicines more affordable, have instead deepened the crisis—leaving patients facing rising costs and dwindling trust.

Instead of a real reduction in costs, we are seeing rising prices, pressure on pharmacies and distributors, and an even greater concentration of profits in the hands of certain manufacturers—those who supply outdated, over-the-counter drugs and seek to preserve their market dominance by blocking new entrants.

What happened:

• The Ministry of Health agreed to a demonstrative “discount” on 100 secondary drugs—handpicked by the manufacturers themselves.

• The ban on marketing agreements did not reduce prices; it simply allowed producers to retain those budgets.

• The Ministry rejected a compromise model developed by market participants without offering any explanation, opting instead for a version that favors a minority of manufacturers.

• The result is not reform, but the redistribution of hundreds of millions of hryvnias. Consumers are paying the price. The majority of the market did not support this approach.

Now comes the political dimension.
The Ministry is demonstrating a case of symbolic politics: loud declarations, minimal real change, and an aversion to conflict with powerful players. Ambition, loyalty to the political hierarchy, and a readiness to carry out top-down directives prevail over genuine reform.

Such “manual regulation” has nothing to do with systemic improvement. It is about controlling financial flows—not about patient care. This form of regulation has become a tool for state-controlled rent redistribution rather than a means of reducing drug prices.

Once again, the pharmaceutical market has been reminded that the rules are not made in the interest of fair competition—but behind closed doors, in favor of the powerful.

Earlier, Health Minister Viktor Lyashko reported that prices for over 100 medicines will be reduced in Ukraine starting in April 2025. The average discount is 17%, with a range from 10% to over 60%, depending on the specific drug.

The list includes medicines for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, acute respiratory viral infections, diseases of the respiratory system, nervous and endocrine systems, dermatological and gastrointestinal pathologies, as well as antipyretic drugs.

The minister then informed that the relevant decision complements the 30% price reduction for the top 100 most popular drugs of the largest Ukrainian pharmaceutical manufacturers, which took place from March 1.

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