02/05/2021 10:54
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 02/05/2021 10:54
The National Administration of Medicines, Food and Medical Technology (Anmat) authorized a public laboratory in the Santa Fe city of Rosario on Thursday to produce and market misoprostol, the drug used for the voluntary interruption of pregnancy (IVE).
This laboratory could supply the drug at
less than half its market value
and guarantee its supply to all Argentine provinces.
The provision, published this Thursday by Anmat, authorizes the firm Laboratorio Industrial Farmacéutico Sociedad del Estado to register in the Registry of Medicinal Specialties (REM) the medicinal specialty with the commercial name Misoprostol LIF and the generic name Misoprostol.
The Undersecretary of Medicines of the Ministry of Health, Sonia Tarragona, told the news agency Télam that the measure is another step to crystallize the Law of Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy that has just been approved in Congress into a concrete project.
The approval, Tarragona added, will go in favor of "
sovereignty in production
, which will be carried out in a public laboratory for a drug that will now be able to have federal transit and any jurisdiction will be able to buy."
The official pointed out that until now there was no such medicine in Argentina made in a public laboratory that was licensed by Anmat.
"Misoprostol today costs
6,500 pesos
in pharmacies and the National State buys it at
2,800 pesos per
dose; we hope that this public laboratory can produce it at a cost of between
a third and a half
of those values," added Tarragona.
"Until now, there was only one private laboratory authorized to market Misoprostol in Argentina, and we hope that with the entry of a new supplier to the market
the price of this medicine will drop
throughout the marketing chain," he added.
The undersecretary indicated that in addition to facilitating that all jurisdictions have an accessible supplier of Misoprostol for their health systems, the laboratory will have the possibility of marketing the product
through pharmacies
.
"From the laboratory they affirmed that by the end of this month they would have the first production batch ready, so after the pertinent controls it is very likely that the distribution will begin very soon," added Tarragona.
"Until last year abortion was illegal in Argentina, so there is no precise estimate of
the volume of production necessary
for this drug, but we are working on identifying this demand to define it, and we know that the laboratory is in conditions to respond to it ", completed the official.
Source: Télam.
LGP
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