ABU DHABI // The Ministry of Health and Prevention announced on Saturday the launch of the seventh initiative to bring down the prices of medicines by up to 63 per cent by early September.
Dr Amin Hussein Al Amiri, Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health and Prevention for Public Health Policy and Licensing Sector, and Vice Chairman of Drugs Pricing and Registration Committee, said the initiative, which was launched in partnership with 39 pharmaceutical companies operating in the country, included 762 medicines.
Of these, prices of 657 products would go down by early September while the reduced prices of 105 products will take effect by as early as January 2017.
“Slash in prices of medicines included in the seventh initiative will range between 2 to 63 per cent. Since the first initiative was launch in July 2011, prices of 8,725 pharmaceutical products have been cut,” he explained.
He said that a study conducted by the ministry showed that the market value of reducing 657 medicines reached Dh267 million and this money will go to support poor patients, namely those suffering from chronic diseases.
A breakdown showed that products classes and counts included medicines for cardiovascular diseases (135), central nervous (115), infections (84), respiratory (72), endocrine (59), obstetrics, gynaecology and urinary-tract disorders (35), skin (35), and gastrointestinal (32), reported Wam, the state news agency.
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Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
