On 1 January 2025, there will be changes in the procedure for announcing the prices of medicinal products.

According to these Changes from A number of changes will come into effect on 1 January 2025.

• For prescription drugs, which will also be distributed in Lithuania or Estonia, the manufacturer’s price may not exceed the lowest specified price of the same prescription drug without value added tax in the specified countries. The compliance of the prices with the prices in Lithuania and Estonia shall be confirmed by the manufacturer of the medicinal product (owner of the registration certificate or his authorized representative) by announcing the price of the medicinal product.
• Starting from January 1, 2025, the manufacturer will be allowed to increase the price of a medicine no more than once in 12 months.
• No more medicine there won’t be two supermarket and pharmacy prices depending on how the medicine is administered – inside or outside the compensation system.
• For medicines that are purchased according to the Law on Public Procurement, and for drugs that are on the national list of compensatory drugs (KZS), the price will be announced in the same order as other drugs.
• If the medicine is excluded from the List of Medicines of Latvia, the last quoted manufacturer’s price or the price offered by the dealer must be entered for the sale of the remaining drug stocks, whichever is lower.
• About the manufacturer of scheduled drugs the drug manufacturer must notify ZVA no later than seven days before the price change the use of the new manufacturer’s drug price, providing reasonable information about the reasons for the increase in drug prices.
• From 1 January 2025, the drug manufacturer will be able to submit a ZVA application on a temporary reduction in the manufacturer’s drug price, information about these prices will not be published in the Medicines Register of Latvia.

In addition from 1 January 2025

The deadline for submitting information (about price changes and their reasons) to parallel distributors and parallel importers (ie, wholesalers) has been changed to the ZVA in the same method to manufacturers. Changes will be made to the formulas for the calculation of indicators, confirming that the previously determined formulas, the correction amounts and the correction coefficients for calculating the prices of non-prescription drugs will remain. On the other hand, the procedure for calculating the prices of prescription drugs and calculating the prices of drugs made in the pharmacy will be changed.

New tax forms

Also in the future, when you submit information about the price of medicine to ZVA, use the forms approved by ZVA:

After January 1, 2025, the current procedure for announcing drug prices will remain. That is, the owner of the registration certificate must provide information about the price of the drug to the ZVA in the same way as before – twice a year on the first date of the half year (ie 1 January and 1 July), as well as if the manufacturer’s price changes.

Considering that, with the changes to the MK rules, the deadline for submitting information to the ZVA has been reduced, we invite the owners of the registration certificate and their authorized representatives to ensure timely communication with wholesalers and pharmacies about the expected price changes.

If there are any questions about the Amendments to the Rules of the MK, you should contact the ZVA by writing to e-mail fios@zva.gov.lv or practice email addressesbe able to gather information and prepare answers independently and to publish them on the website.