Uzbekistan Introduces New Drug Pricing Rules and Strict Oversight

Uzbekistan has introduced new rules for setting and monitoring drug prices, UzA reports. A presidential decree signed by Shavkat Mirziyoyev on 28 January 2025 aims to prevent unjustified price rises, reduce household medicine costs and promote transparent competition.

Under a reference price system, markups on prescription drugs are limited to 15 percent at wholesale and 20 percent at retail, and the final sale price cannot exceed the reference price. Medicines with the same composition sold under different brand names face the lowest reference price.

The Agency for Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Industry Development said retail prices of nearly 2,000 prescription drugs were cut from 1 March 2026. Alisher Temirov, director of the Pharmaceutical Product Safety Center, said 634 control measures in the first half of the year led to 33 pharmacy licences being revoked, six of them for overcharging.