Table 1

Summary of medicines pricing policies introduced between 2012 and 2017

Policy/year	Aim	Type of medicines	Pharmaceutical sector affected/beneficiary
HCSCMP (2012)	To address numerous challenges in the supply chain, for example, overlapping tasks, high costs and payment delays in procurement.	Essential medicines	Supply chain/public sector
Framework Contracting (2012)	To outline a centralised procurement process for bulk purchase and negotiation of medicine prices.	High demand essential medicines	Supply chain/public sector
VAT exemption for medicines importers (2017)	To remove build up costs due to taxes	392 selected essential medicines (imported finished products)	Importation/cost build-up due to taxes. Importers agreed to reduce prices of essential medicines by a minimum of 30%. Public and private sector
VAT exemption for active pharmaceutical inputs (API), manufacturing inputs and packaging materials (reviewed in 2012 and 2017)	To remove the build-up of costs due to taxes, and ring-fenced some selected essential medicines for local manufacturing	552 (active ingredients, and selected inputs) for essential medicines	Local manufacturing/cost build-up due to taxes Private