Ukraine should adopt European practices of setting prices of expensive innovative medicines, applying negotiation procedures and long-term contracts, Co-Chairman of the Healthcare Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine and Partner of Marchenko Danevych law firm Borys Danevych has said.

"It is important for Ukraine to adopt the experience of most European countries that have separate approaches to the formation of prices for innovative drugs, often quite expensive, but at the same time providing a completely new level of patient treatment. These include negotiation tools with producers without intermediaries, long-term contracts, and agreements on risk sharing, where the state, for example, can pay the manufacturer not for the number of drugs, but for the number of patients cured," he told Interfax-Ukraine, commenting on the impact of medical reform on the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market.

According to Danevych, one of the consequences of the healthcare reform will be the gradual increase of the share of prescription drugs in the pharmaceutical market, mainly as a result of the development of reimbursement projects for medicines.

"The number and proportion of prescription drugs should definitely increase gradually and steadily as part of the introduction of healthcare reform. A very large number of OTC drugs sold in Ukraine today refers to symptomatic drugs that, in simple words, do not treat the patient, but only eliminate the discomfort arising in case of diseases. An increase should be expected due to the growth in the volume of public financing, not only in procurement, but more and more in reimbursement," he said.

In addition, Danevych said that the healthcare reform should influence the expansion of the practice of appropriate (corresponding treatment protocols) therapy, which in turn will promote the development of domestic pharmaceutical production and stimulate the import of drugs included in reimbursement projects.