If the Syndicate of Pharmacists had alerted the public, not long ago, to a probable increase in the price of the drug linked to the entry into force of the Gabonese Conformity Assessment Program (Progec), the director general of this organization assured this September 16 that the drug can not be subject to any increase in price via Progec.
The entry into force of Progec will not result in an increase in the price of the drug, said during a press conference on September 16, Abdu Razzaq Guy Kambogo, Director General of the Gabonese Agency for Standardization (Aganor) . This position follows the recent exit of the Syndicat des pharmaciens du Gabon. He alerted the public to a possible increase in the price of the drug, due to the entry into force of decree 1080-20 / MTCPMEI / MEF setting the conditions for the application of the Assessment of Conformity to product standards. and the entry into force of controls.
This decree marks the entry into force of the Gabonese Conformity Assessment Program (Progec) in its second phase and is materialized by the imposition of a certificate of conformity issued by Aganor. Noting that Progec entered into force for the first time in 2015, Abdu Razzaq Guy Kambogo stressed that this program does not exist only in Gabon. Main tool used by States in the context of trade and, following the gradual elimination of barriers to trade, its field of action has been widened in Gabon as in the other countries where it is implemented.
“Progec is not just about the products, but also the threshold. The threshold is the monetary limit from which the goods we import from outside to Gabon “, he said. The initial limit, he said, was 300 euros for the certificate of conformity before shipment of the goods. Today, under Decree 1080, this threshold is reduced to 100 euros. Its main objective, he said, is to protect the consumer but also the environment. The idea is to face the informal, the main corollary of which is the weakening of formally established industries.
In this context of enlargement, reported Abdu Razzaq Guy Kambogo, “there was unfortunately a misreading of the decree which made certain operators, in particular those in the pharmaceutical sector, make an exit and affirm that it will have an increase in the price of the drug due to the requirement of the certificate of conformity induced by the widening of the scope of Progec ”. According to him, this increase is not possible especially since the drug is certainly part of a package called health products, but is not part of the scope of Progec.
Decree 1080, he said, stipulates in Articles 2 and 3 which products are subject to Progec. In particular, food products, products that are subject to exemption, products that are already controlled, certified by globally recognized third-party organizations. “The drug on this point is automatically excluded. And an additional element is that the drug is exempt from customs duties. And the text specifies that Progec is interested in products subject to the Customs code, “Abdu Razzaq Guy Kambogo explained in the presence of Dr Edwige Okouyi Ndakissa, director of the Medicines Agency.
The drug, the Aganor director general insisted, is well controlled by the Medicines Agency before it enters Gabon and is already subject to strict controls and evaluations. No registered medicine, he said, can be sold in pharmacies unless it has received market authorization. Which authorization follows a strict process starting from the manufacturing laboratories until it is loaded for sale in Gabon. “The decree provided for it. There was no need to specifically name the drug, “he commented, dismissing the specter of an increase in the drug’s price.
However, Edwige Okouyi Ndakissa, doctor of pharmacy and specialist in drug quality says drugs are not affected by Progec. However, since the pharmaceutical product has two components, the other products such as toothbrushes, cream, toothpaste, etc. are. Never mind, the Medicines Agency has asked Aganor for additional time to implement the order. According to Abdu Razzaq Guy Kambogo, the additional deadline granted was set for January 1, 2021.
