Among the numerous parliamentary initiatives aimed at mitigating the socio-economic impact of COVID-19, two bills stand out as they seek to implement a price freeze in pharmaceuticals and essential goods and services while the state of public calamity remains. However, these bills have been submitted for analysis to the Department of Economic Studies (DEE) of CADE which declared that price regulation in the pharmaceutical sector already exists. Price freezes may result in medication shortages and hinder an eventual increase in production and distribution. The same could happen to the production of essential items and lead to the market exclusion of agents unable to meet the imposed prices. The bills remain to be processed by the Senate and the Chamber.
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