MERCOSUR Health Ministers Discuss Joint Drug Purchase Strategy
6 noviembre 2019

On November 1, Mercosur health ministers met in Brazil to discuss the policy for the joint purchase of high-cost medicines which the trading bloc is seeking to establish, including the creation of a joint purchasing platform. However, according to press coverage of the event, as a statement was not released, they failed to reach agreement on this issue. It was however agreed that Paraguay will be the next pro-tempore president of this working area and under its presidency, work to create the new policy will continue.

At the end of the meeting the Argentine health minister explained that although “a price proposal was not finalized during the Pro Tempore Brazilian Presidency,” the ministers had agreed to “bolster the joint negotiation policy regarding medicine prices in the scope of the Mercosur” by “strengthening a permanent Committee or Working Group able to ensure the continuity of the agenda throughout the presidencies, and address the particularities necessary to achieve a more effective price negotiation in the long term.”

The Brazilians recalled that “within the Americas, Brazil purchases medicines more cheaply” because “it is buying for more than 200 million inhabitants,” which is the kind of scaling-up that they will seek “to replicate at regional level.” The Uruguayan health minister, Jorge Basso, explained that they were placing special emphasis on “consolidating the strategy for joint negotiations” with a view to reincorporating Brazil because of its “strategic” weight to secure better price deals.  

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