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YEREVAN, September 10. /ARKA/. The Armenian National Assembly has passed the first reading of a bill aimed at granting regulatory bodies enhanced powers to oversee the circulation of counterfeit or non-sellable medications./pp
According to MP Lusine Badalyan, the current oversight authorities lack the ability to inspect pharmacies within medical institutions for such medications. The proposed changes would grant them this authority./pp
Additionally, Badalyan highlighted concerns over the destruction of medications by private companies. There have been suspicions that some medications were only destroyed on paper, with later inspections uncovering the same drugs. Under the new legislation, companies will be required to notify regulators five days in advance of destroying medication batches. This would allow regulators to send representatives to witness the destruction, and the process must also be recorded on video by the company./p br