Exclusive | Concerns of Pharmacists and Doctors About the Impact of Drug Price Increases and Shortages on Public Health

The price of various medications in Iran has increased by 50 to 400 percent once again, and what has severely alarmed doctors is the long-term impact that the disarray in the pharmaceutical sector has on people's health. A pharmacist residing in Tehran told Voice of America regarding the increase in drug prices: "If a medication cost 500,000 tomans with a dollar rate of 4,000 tomans, it would naturally become 15 times more expensive with a dollar rate of 60,000 tomans, and the continuation of price increases at this rate will make it impossible for many families to afford exorbitant drug prices." A pharmacy owner wrote on social media that 60 units of the antidepressant Asentra (Sertraline) manufactured by the Iranian company OctoVarko and calcium supplements for his patient cost one million tomans. Many drug costs are borne out of the patients' own pockets. Regarding 'difficult-to-treat diseases,' individuals register either in the social security system or the national health fund, and after approval, they are 'marked,' but the ceiling for drug costs is up to 200 million tomans per year. Meanwhile, according to this pharmaceutical industry expert, a chemotherapy course can cost up to one billion tomans. The CEO of the 'Mahak' foundation also recently stated that the treatment protocol for a child with cancer can impose costs of at least 100 to 500 million tomans and a maximum of 1 to 3 billion tomans or even higher over a three to five-year treatment period. At the same time, Voice of America investigations show that several diseases are not listed, and patients are told their illness is 'unknown' and not covered by insurance. Meanwhile, a pharmacist in Tehran told Voice of America that insurance organizations, including medical services and social security, do not pay pharmacies for up to six months, and added that last year they sometimes delayed payment for ten or even eleven months, leading some pharmacies to stop accepting insurance prescriptions. According to published reports, the amount of bounced checks from pharmacies in the first six months of 1403 has reached 4 trillion tomans. As a result, the heavy costs of medications are placed on families, causing many to abandon treatment or receive incomplete medications. This trend can cost lives in the case of fatal diseases. Official statistics, which only depict a fraction of the reality, show that since the beginning of the year, more than 2,500 hemophilia patients have died. Official reports indicate that there are 141,641 new cancer cases in Iran annually, with about 390 new cases registered daily. A doctor residing in Tehran told Voice of America: "Some of my cancer patients have stopped their treatment, saying that last year they managed to obtain the medication by any means, but this year they cannot afford it." He added: "Last year, the cost of a treatment course with the anticancer drug Venclexta was about 90 million tomans, but now the same drug costs 190 million tomans, which most families cannot afford due to economic conditions." According to this doctor, it seems that the government wants to compensate for its energy imbalance and budget deficit by 'raising drug prices and targeting the weakest segments of society.'