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Content is retrieved from Sharik
12th Oct, 2014
Healthcare Issues

Chaired by Dr. Amin Al Amiri, Assistant Undersecretary for Public Policy and licensing and chairman of the drug pricing higher committee, the members of the committee held a meeting in the ministry of health in Dubai in the attendance of representatives from the ministry of health, Abu Dhabi and Dubai health authorities, Dubai healthcare city and national universities.

The committee approved the registration of 62new drugs after completing the technical requirements. The approved drugs include those that are used in the treatment of tumors, high blood pressure and pain killers. The committee postponed the approval of 6 others for not completing the requested technical demands.

Dr. Al Amiri emphasized that more than half of these drugs are innovative of which, a European drug used for high blood pressure and tumors. He also added that the committee discussed the pricing of 104 new drug taking into consideration a reasonable rate that can serve the patient better and provide him with a safe effective drug. The committee also sought the importance of not harming the economics of drug companies and encouraging them to continue their operations in the UAE as this would positively reflect the health system and economy of the country.

Dr. Al Amiri also stated that the committee established a new mechanism to assess the bioequivalence studies that are presented for registration in order to shorten the evaluation process and time with damaging the effectiveness and safety of the drugs. The bio equivalence studies compare resembled and innovative drugs to ensure their efficiency compared to innovative drugs which is a basic reference for every group medicine. Such a mechanism which is applied the FDA and EDA shortens the duration of the bio equivalence process into 80% and facilitates the registration of resembled drugs according to the international drug standards.

Al Amiri explained that the committee received several applications from some companies requesting to drop the patents of some drugs while permit the registration of other resembled drugs. The committee decided to postpone the acceptance of these applications until they review the legal status of the patents and as part of the UAE’s commitment to international agreements in this regard. The UAE is one of the leading countries to respect intellectual property rights and also looks for all new updates in the drug field without any infringement to the intellectual property rights agreements.

At the end of the meeting, the committee members agreed to amend the sensitivity methods of exchanging sensitive drugs. The drug shall be disbursed by the pharmacist’s prescription instead of the doctor to coincide with the international trends in this regard and facilitate the availability of medical products. “The Ministry watches closely the international trends and directives in the pharmaceutical field and hopes to accommodate all its systems with global techniques and systems”, Al Amiri concluded.

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