New Paper: Counting the savings: impact of Georgia’s drug policy interventions on households

CIF researchers Tsotne Gorgodze, Akaki Zoidze & George Gotsadze published new scientific article in the International Journal for Equity in Health. The article entitled “Counting the savings: impact of Georgia’s drug policy interventions on households” has been developed in the frame of the Rustaveli Fund supported project and aims to assesses the impact of three pharmaceutical policy interventions introduced between 2017 and 2023 on monthly household drug expenditures.

Access to essential medicines is a cornerstone of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and Universal Health Coverage, yet in Georgia, medicines remain the largest component of out-of-pocket (OOP) health spending, placing a heavy burden on low-income households. A recent CIF study examined the impact of three pharmaceutical policy interventions introduced between 2017 and 2023—drug reimbursement for chronic conditions, parallel drug imports from Turkey, and external reference pricing—using data from over 88,000 households. The findings show that only the 2023 introduction of external reference pricing resulted in a significant and sustained reduction in household pharmaceutical expenses, with an immediate drop of 29% and total savings of approximately 43.3 million GEL (15.6 million USD) for Georgian households in that year. These results highlight external reference pricing as a promising policy tool for reducing medicine costs in low- and middle-income countries, while underscoring the need for ongoing monitoring and complementary measures to ensure equitable and lasting benefits.

The research project is funded by Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia. The project is implemented by the Curatio International Foundation.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-025-02535-x

Read full paper here

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