Health minister Alexandru Găsnăș spoke on Wednesday, after the cabinet meeting, about over-the-counter medicine prices. He is examining a gradual liberalisation. He is not freeing retail prices now. This is not a rise already applied.

"We cannot afford at this stage to liberalise the retail price, because we will not have real competition," he said, quoted by TV8. MOLDPRES: full liberalisation is not an option. The subject is still under discussion. The measures have yet to be defined. An announcement, not a published decision.

For essential OTC drugs — ibuprofen, paracetamol, the WHO and ministry lists — he wants negotiation through a reference mechanism and a cap, as with prescription drugs and hospital purchases. For the other non-prescription drugs: control and a gradual opening of the commercial margin. The Medicines Agency still sets the producer price. It is not "each pharmacy as it likes".

Gheorghe Apostol, of the manufacturers' association, expects a fluctuation of 5-7%. Gradual. Not immediately, not all producers. Production costs, he says, not a tariff today. Patients on the reimbursed list, Găsnăș says, should not feel the cost. CNAM allocates about 1.3 billion lei a year, according to MOLDPRES.

The TV8 headline says they "are getting more expensive". The minister talks of worldwide costs notified by producers and of a timetable he is still discussing. Those are not the same thing.

An intention. Not a new price on the shelf.

Image: Pudelek, Parliament Building, Chisinau, 11 August 2016, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; the parliament in 2016, not the 21 October 2026 cabinet meeting.

Sources consulted: Over-the-counter medicines could rise by 5-7% in Moldova - TV8, 21 October 2026; Some medicines could become more expensive. What the Health Ministry is preparing - MOLDPRES, 21 October 2026.