GENEVA: GCC health ministers have approved common standards for pricing medicines in the countries of the council, adopting the import price registered in Saudi Arabia or the lowest rate. This decision was taken during the 71st meeting of the 36th session of the GCC Ministerial Health Council, held here on the sidelines of the annual convention of the World Health Organization (WHO). The ministers, in a resolution, called on the member states of the council to deal with the Saudi Food and Drugs Authority in this respect. They assigned the GCC central commission for registration to work out a mechanism for implementation of the decision. The resolution stipulates that the supreme council of the GCC health ministers should approve unification of prices of the imported drugs, including insurance and shipping, and that prices must be rated in the US dollar. As to profits, the joint resolution stipulates that each of the countries could set the margin of earnings, provided that the rate be largely identical.
