On May 13-15, 2019, CLDP led a workshop on developing competition in Georgia’s pharmaceutical market in Tbilisi, Georgia.  The workshop was planned in cooperation with the Competition Agency of Georgia and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and with the support of the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi.  Through this workshop, CLDP sought to assist the Competition Agency of Georgia and participating stakeholders in evaluating the level of competition in Georgia’s pharmaceutical market and to demonstrate the link between competition and the accessibility, affordability and quality of pharmaceutical products.  Peter Davidson, General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Commerce, attended the workshop and provided a keynote address that highlighted the role of free and fair competition in strengthening economic growth and attracting foreign investment. 

The three-day workshop began with a stakeholders meeting that included representatives of the Competition Agency of Georgia, the Ministry of Health, business ombudsmen, non-governmental organizations, and pharmaceutical companies.  The discussions at the stakeholders meeting centered around the current challenges in the Georgian pharmaceutical market and the policy choices that ensure medicine is not only available in the market but is also safe and affordable to consumers.  The remainder of the workshop focused on building the capacity of the Competition Agency of Georgia to combat anticompetitive practices in the pharmaceutical market.  Topics in the capacity building portion of the workshop included the following topics: competitive effects of vertical integration; market transparency; intellectual property; and regulatory trends in the U.S. and EU. 

This workshop was part of a series of programs organized by CLDP to assist the Competition Agency of Georgia with identifying and preventing anticompetitive behavior. Developing and maintaining competition in the pharmaceutical market is critical for the Georgian economy and also helps protect public health and safety.  In 2018, health expenditures in Georgia totaled $1.3 billion, approximately 8 percent of Georgia’s GDP.  Currently, four pharmaceutical companies dominate 70% of Georgia’s market share and the high level of market concentration increases the risk of abuse of dominance.  Market dominance of a few companies can lead to high markups for medicines, and the markup for medicines in Georgia is reportedly above the average markup for medicines in other European countries.