UKRAINE BUSINESS NEWS -
President Victor Yushchenko To Veto Destructive
Anti-Business Pharmaceutical Industry Pricing Law
U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC) urged Yushchenko to veto the law
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1. U.S.-UKRAINE BUSINESS COUNCIL THANKS PRESIDENT VICTOR
YUSHCHENKO FOR HIS DECISION TO VETO DESTRUCTIVE, ANTI-
BUSINESS PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY PRICING LAW
U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC), Washington, D.C., Friday, Nov 13, 2009
2. UKRAINE: PRESIDENT TO VETO THE LAW BANNING
GROWTH OF PRICES FOR MEDICINES
Press office of President Victor Yushchenko, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Nov 13, 2009
3. PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO SAYS UKRAINE MAY LOSE ITS
PHARMACEUTICAL SECTOR DUE TO POPULIST POLITICAL DECISIONS
Interfax, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 13, 2009
4. U.S.-UKRAINE BUSINESS COUNCIL URGES PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO TO VETO
NEW LAW INTRODUCING MORATORIUM ON INCREASE OF PRICES OF MEDICINE
Joins with European Business Association (EBA) & Pharmaceutical Industry Associations
U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC), Wash, D.C., Thu, Nov 5, 2009
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1. U.S.-UKRAINE BUSINESS COUNCIL THANKS PRESIDENT
VICTOR YUSHCHENKO FOR DECISION TO VETO DESTRUCTIVE
ANTI-BUSINESS PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY PRICING LAW
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC), Washington, D.C., Friday, Nov 13, 2009
WASHINGTON - Responding to President Viktor Yushchenko’s announcement today that he would veto a law passed by the Ukrainian Parliament that would have declared a moratorium on price increases for prescription drugs, the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC) praised the president’s announcement as a courageous act under difficult circumstances.
USUBC recognizes that such a measure had considerable appeal during a heated presidential election campaign. However, the president did the correct and courageous thing through his decision to veto this bill, which would have sent an totally inappropriate message to the pharmaceuticals industry and its needs to be able to plan its huge expenditures for drug experimentation and testing years ahead, and to the larger private business community.
President Yushchenko's act confirms Ukraine’s support for free market principles that undergird the private enterprise system, supports the growth of jobs and income in Ukraine, encourages greater experimentation to discover new medicines. Yushchenko's decision sends to the right signals to the many investors who are currently considering Ukraine as a venue for new or expanded ventures,”
President Yushchenko made his decision with strong support from USUBC, the EBA and other business trade associations that banded together to highlight the negative effects signing the bill into law would have on current and future investments in the pharmaceutical industry.
President Yushchenko in his announcement stated, "Guided by social and economic motives of national production, I decided to veto this bill." Victor Yushchenko stressed that the law would actually destroy domestic producers and the prospect for this unique science-intensive industry to enter the European and world markets.
Victor Yushchenko urged representatives of the industry to help explain to the public that the law would not only affect the interests of domestic producers, but also lead to lack of medicines for ordinary citizens (http://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/15701.html).
USUBC agrees with the president’s recommendation that the pharmaceutical industry has a responsibility to help explain to the public that the law would not only affect the interests of domestic producers, but would also lead to a lack of necessary medicines for ordinary citizens. Pharmaceutical companies and business trade associations are already undertaking the task for explaining the realities of the situation.
The U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC), established in Washington, D.C. in October 1995, now has over 100 members. Morgan Williams, Director, Government Affairs, Washington Office, SigmaBleyzer, serves as the president of USUBC. More information about USUBC may be found at www.usubc.org.
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2. UKRAINE: PRESIDENT TO VETO THE LAW BANNING
GROWTH OF PRICES FOR MEDICINES
Press office of President Victor Yushchenko, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Nov 13, 2009
KYIV - President Victor Yushchenko will veto the law imposing moratorium on rising prices and tariffs for medical supplies, he said during his today’s meeting with representatives of the pharmaceutical industry at Borshchahivskiy Chemical-Pharmaceutical Plant.
"Guided by social and economic motives of national production, I decided to veto this bill", he said. Victor Yushchenko stressed that the law would actually destroy domestic producers and the prospect for this unique science-intensive industry to enter the European and world markets.
Victor Yushchenko urged representatives of the industry to help explaining to the public that the law would not only affect the interests of domestic producers, but also lead to lack of medicines for ordinary citizens.
LINK: http://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/15701.html
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3. PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO SAYS UKRAINE MAY LOSE ITS
PHARMACEUTICAL SECTOR DUE TO POPULIST POLITICAL DECISIONS
Interfax, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 13, 2009
KYIV - Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko has said he fears that Ukraine may lose its pharmaceutical sector due to populist political decisions.
"What currently is happening in the moral, psychological and political debate about Ukrainian pharmacy and the work of Ukrainian drugstores ... as well as emotions included in political speculation ... could throw us back to ten years ago," he said at a meeting with the leaders of Ukrainian pharmaceutical enterprises in Kyiv on Friday.
Yuschenko said that in such a delicate issue, it is necessary to take into account Ukraine's national interests and realize that "we have a unique sector that could de destroyed in several weeks due to an ill-considered decision."
He said that Ukrainian producers make three fourths of the medicines that are currently on sale at drugstores. Yuschenko also called on politicians to "end the smear campaign in the light of empty drugstore counters." The head of state said earlier that he would most likely not sign a law declaring a moratorium on a rise in prices for medicines, which was passed by parliament on October 20.
LINK: http://www.interfax.com.ua/eng/main/24765
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4. U.S.-UKRAINE BUSINESS COUNCIL URGES PRESIDENT
YUSHCHENKO TO VETO NEW LAW INTRODUCING
MORATORIUM ON INCREASE OF PRICES OF MEDICINE
Joins with European Business Association (EBA) & Pharmaceutical Industry Associations
U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC), Wash, D.C., Thu, Nov 5, 2009
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC) today called on the President of Ukraine, Victor Yushchenko, to quickly veto a new law recently passed by the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) that introduces a moratorium on the increase of the prices of medicine.
USUBC joins with the European Business Association (EBA) in Kyiv and several pharmaceutical industry trade associations in strongly urging President Yushchenko to veto the drug price control legislation.
The new legislation is bad all the way around, USUBC said. The people of Ukraine will lose as there will be a severe shortage of critical medicines, the shelves in drug stores and pharmacies will be empty, businesses will lose money, many stores will be forced to close their doors, and major drug manufacturers will stop shipping needed supplies to Ukraine. Legislation like this never works and is always counterproductive according to USUBC. Ukraine is shooting itself in the foot big-time once again.
"The new law will lead to a crisis in the pharmaceutical industry and huge losses," the director of the European Business Association (EBA), Anna Derevianko, said at a press conference in Kyiv last Wednesday.
"Mr. President, we ask you interfere in the situation and employ the president's right to veto," said Petro Bahrii, the president of the Association of Pharmaceutical Producers, in a recent statement in Kyiv.
Nadia Chyslenko, president of the Pharmaceutical Professional Association, said recently the enactment of the law will result in closure of most of drug stores in the country and operation of the industry in the shadow.
Volodymyr Dudka, president of the Association of Pharmaceutical Distributors in Ukraine, assesses the moratorium as being absurd. "The law introducing the moratorium on prices is, in my opinion, as absurd as the law on the moratorium on devaluation of the hryvnia," he said.
The U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC) urged President Yushchenko to veto the legislation immediately in order to stop the severe disruption that has occurred in the marketplace. Winter is coming and the flu season has already hit Ukraine hard. Stability and order is needed in the marketplace, not unnecessary and major negative, misguided interventions by the government of Ukraine, according to USUBC, www.usubc.org.
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