Uzbekistan's automated digital system for monitoring drug prices has revealed widespread violations in the retail network, with approximately 2,500 pharmacies unjustifiably inflating medication costs, exceeding allowable markups by up to three times.

The system was launched based on a presidential decree and further strengthened following proposals from the Competition Committee. Since March 2026, an improved control of reference prices has been in effect, where tax authorities automatically suspend the registration of invoices if wholesale prices exceed the established threshold.

These measures have helped prevent artificial price inflation in the wholesale sector, which in turn affects drug prices in over 12,500 pharmacies nationwide.

Inspections found that about 2,500 pharmacies exceeded the allowable trade markup in hundreds of thousands of cases, ranging from 10% to three times the limit. The total amount of unjustifiably obtained funds exceeded 21.1 billion soums (approximately $1.8 million). All money was returned to customers.

In the first quarter of 2026 alone, violations were detected in over 190 pharmacies, with more than 110,000 cases of overpricing totaling over 1.4 billion soums (about $120,000).

Citizens are reminded that they can check permissible drug prices through the official reference price registry and report violations to the Competition Committee's hotline at 1159.

Previously, hundreds of thousands of overpricing cases were found in nearly 1,000 pharmacies, where 8.5 billion soums were illegally obtained.

Source: podrobno.uz