Armenia to tighten control over destruction of expired medicines

ArmInfo. The current lack of monitoring tools prevents the inspection body from verifying whether pharmaceutical products are genuinely being destroyed. In  reality, medications are sometimes destroyed only on paper, while  physically remaining on the market for sale.  

This package of bills seeks to streamline the destruction process for counterfeit and expired pharmaceuticals and to establish proper oversight over the  procedure. Vanik Ohanyan, Chairman of the National Assembly's  Standing Committee on Health Care, made this statement during a  committee meeting on June 15. He was presenting a package of  amendments to the Law "On Medicines" and the Code of Administrative  Offenses.

According to the rapporteur, the legislative package was discussed  with colleagues from the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of  Environment, and the Health and Labor Inspection Body, all of whom  provided positive feedback. Vanik Ohanyan noted that the authors of  the draft accepted the Government's proposals.  Accordingly, a  provision will be incorporated into the bill establishing that the  licensed legal entity or private enterprise carrying out the  destruction of medicines is responsible for ensuring the cancellation  of seals and labels. The application of this measure will be  regulated during the development of relevant bylaws.