Some 8,524 medicines and pharmaceutical products have been registered by the Jordan Food and Drug Administration (JFDA), of which 4,434 were locally manufactured and 4,090 imported, in adition to seven natural medicines, JFDA Director General Nizar Mhaidat said Saturday.

Outlining the registered drug types, he told Petra that in the first half of the year, the institution registered 23 local medicines and 54 imported brands, in addition to 112 vitamins and minerals, 68 natural medicines and 6 baby formula and infant food products.

He added that the Medicines Directorate registered 409 pharmaceutical products, including 192 new and 202 similar types, 11 serums and vaccines and 4 natural medicines.

Mhaidat said the JFDA constantly reviews drug prices and will continue to do so and compare them with prices in neighboring countries and the countries of origin, while modifying the pricing mechanism to ensure reasonable prices and reduce the price of generic drugs.

The periodic review resulted in the reduction
of the prices of 516 pharmaceutical items during the first nine months of the year, the pricing of 170 types for registration purposes and 177 others for re-registration, he said.

He added that the value of local pharmaceutical products the JFDA authorized to be traded was about JD664.6 million, of which JD307 million locally made and JD357.6 million imported.

Source: Jordan News Agency