BULGARIA COMPETITION WATCHDOG TO INVESTIGATE MEDICINE MONOPOLY CLAIMS

Bulgaria's Commission on Protection of Competition (CPC) would investigate whether there is any monopoly in the health care sector, specifically whether any company developed a monopoly on deliveries of medicine and medical equipment to hospitals, Health Minister Stefan Konstantinov told Bulgarian National Television on March 1.

The ministry was still collating the data concerning suppliers and the amounts they received over the years. "We can see two or three big players and several small ones. Whether it is a monopoly, CPC will have to decide that," Konstantinov said.

Last week, Konstantinov had suggested that an external auditor investigate allegations of unreasonably high prices of medicines in the public health care sector.

On February 21, Prime Minister Boiko Borissov fired deputy health minister Gergana Pavlova, whose remit was to co-ordinate and control the Government policy in the area of medical equipment and drugs, as well as serve as the Cabinet's liaison with the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) on medicaments policy.

Pavlova's dismissal came at a time when reports in Bulgarian-language media have claimed that Bulgaria is being investigated by the European Commission on suspicion that it allowed one pharmaceutical company to build an alleged monopoly on the domestic market. Media reports claimed that the company in question is Sopharma, where Pavlova was a manager in the distribution subsidiary.

On February 29, pharmaceutical companies and importers agreed to lower their prices following a meeting with Konstantinov and Borissov. "It is not an issue of whether they will do it, rather when they will do it," Konstantinov told BNT.

Asked why the Cabinet had not acted earlier to prevent medicicament prices from growing, Konstantinov said that he had trusted Pavlova to keep him abreast of developments on the market.

"She said that we are bying more medicine with less money, without putting undue stress on the system. It turns out that there were still more space [to push prices down]," Konstantinov said.