Commercial considerations result in hundreds of drug withdrawals in Brazil

As a result of lack of commercial interest, pharmaceutical companies operating in Brazil have withdrawn from the market old and cheap medications, some of them essential and without substitutes.

Of the 1,748 drugs cancelled between May 2014 and June 2017, 63% were for commercial motivations, the second rise recorded on the website of Anvisa (Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária). Other reasons (37%) referred to changes of factory location, problems with an active ingredient, etc. Almost a fifth (17%) were reactivated later. The industry must inform Anvisa at least six months beforehand of any cancellations and where there is no alternative a year before.

The pharmaceutical companies claim that there has been a shift-change in prices motivated by government politics. The federal government says the prices of these drugs have been revised. In oncology there is a big preoccupation with this situation because across the treatment interruption of drug access could accelerate the growth of the tumor and reduce the chances of a cure.