MEDICINE REGISTRATION FEES TO BE LEVELED

ArmenPress
May 26 2004

YEREVAN, MAY 26, ARMENPRESS: According to a health ministry-affiliated
agency for medications and medical technologies, foreign pharmaceutical
companies seeking registration of their products in Armenia will
pay as much fee for expert examination of their medicines as
local companies. Until now overseas companies have paid $1,500
for conducting expert examination of their medicines and local
companies-$400. The lower price for domestic companies was to help
boost home pharmaceutical production.

Under the new scheme, both local and foreign companies, will have to
pay $1,200. Leveling of fees is one of the requirements Armenia assumed
when joining the World Trade Organization. According to the agency,
around 4,000 medicines are registered in Armenia, of which 7.4 percent
are domestically produced. Armenia brings medicines mainly from US,
Great Britain, France, the Czech Republic, Hungary and CIS countries.

Two of 11 Armenian companies, licensed to manufacture medicines,
Pharmatech and Arpimed have brought their products in compliance with
GMP requirements.