Article 64 of the Federal Law no. 4 of 1983 concerning the Profession of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical institutions (“Pharmacy Law”), states the following: 

“The Minister may at the recommendation of the committee stated in article 63 decide the following: 3. Fixation of the price of any medicine or pharmaceutical preparation and consider pricing.” 

Accordingly, the main legislation governing the fixing of prices for drugs in the UAE is the Pharmacy Law. The sole authority to fix and consider the price of medicines and other pharmaceutical preparation is vested in the Minister of Health (“The Minister”). These fixed prices include the price sold by from the wholesaler to distributors to pharmacies. According to his authorities, the Minister has the power to fix the price of any medicine, and this should include the price through its different stages (Company to distributor, distributor to pharmacy and from pharmacy to customers).