AREDIS requests a period of 15 days to implement the Decree that establishes a 30% discount on 170 medicines

The Association of Representatives and Distributors of Pharmaceutical Products (AREDIS) sees the implementation of Executive Decree No. 17 as an improvised measure that generates uncertainty.
They warn that this Decree presents serious obstacles so that hundreds of pharmacies can apply the 30% discount on 170 medications, starting this Monday, August 15.


According to AREDIS, in order to comply with this decree, it must be made clear that drug distributors need to establish individual negotiations with each of their supplying laboratories, in order to be able to answer questions from pharmacies regarding the implementation of the measure.
They highlighted that on the morning of this Friday, August 12, they received a statement from the Central American and Caribbean Federation of Pharmaceutical Laboratories (FEDEFARMA), indicating the general terms of the contribution of its member companies; however, they explain that these represent only a fraction of the universe of laboratories that sell products to Panama, and to date the distributors have not had a direct formal response from any laboratory.

AREDIS said that as things stand, it is unlikely that the measure will be implemented on Monday the 15th, since this process will take more time than the Government has granted.
“Given the improvisation of the measure and implementation without consideration of realistic times, we are concerned about the factual situations, inconveniences and annoyances that may be generated in the different pharmacies at the national level,” they said.
In addition, they called on the Executive to grant at least 15 days to prepare the implementation of the Executive Decree, as established in Article 104 of Law 1 on Medicines.
“AREDIS reiterates its concern about the impact that this measure could generate for pharmacies throughout the country, since it could lead to product shortages and business closures. This will aggravate the situation, especially in the interior of the country and on the outskirts of the capital, places that are mostly supplied by small pharmacies,” they specified.