The National Institute for the Defense of Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (Indecopi) reported that it has received alerts from consumers about shortages and price increases of generic drugs, in the midst of the third wave of infections by COVID-19 in Peru.
The institution urged suppliers to avoid behaviors that promote speculation and the hoarding of said products, since these behaviors constitute crimes according to the Penal Code.
Likewise, it asked the companies to respect the norms of protection and defense of the consumer and the fulfillment of their obligations, which are the following:
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- Provide adequate information on the stock of products and not privilege the sale of brand-name drugs over generic ones.
- Charge the prices previously informed.
- Round prices always in favor of consumers.
- Comply with the offered conditions of the service of delivery.
- In the case of generic products, pharmacies and drugstores are obliged to keep them available or demonstrate their sale.
The entity reminded consumers that they can access the reference price list of medicines through the Observatory of Pharmaceutical Products of the Ministry of Health: http://opm.digemid.minsa.gob.pe/#/consulta-producto
COVID-19 self-test
On the other hand, the institution recognized an increase in citizen reports in the Indecopi Special Monitoring Center (CEMI) on the promotion and sale of tests to detect the coronavirus, called “COVID-19 self-test”.
In this sense, the institution, in its capacity as the National Authority for Consumer Protection, recommended customers to buy the tests from formal providers of drug sales, registered in the National Registry of Pharmaceutical Establishments, which can be found through the following link: http://serviciosweb.digemid.minsa.gob.pe/Consultas/Establecimientos
He also suggested reading the product label to verify that it has authorization from the General Directorate of Medicines, Supplies and Drugs (Digemid) and that it details the specificity and sensitivity of the test. Both data can be consulted at the following link: https://www.digemid.minsa.gob.pe/upload/uploaded/PDF/COVID19/AE_PRUEBAS_RAPIDAS.pdf
Indecopi has also requested the Ministry of Health (Minsa) the guides or instructions with recommendations for the correct use of the aforementioned product, since the poorly executed procedure reduces the effectiveness of the test.
