The periodic disappearance of certain medicines from the shelves of Bulgarian pharmacies is completely legal and regulated according to European rules and is a consequence of the so-called "parallel export," President of the National Pharmacy Chamber Anton Valev told the BNR. According to him, countries affected need to demand changes to this part of the European Union treaty.

"A company sells a specific drug for 10 euros in Germany, for example. The same medicine on the Bulgarian market costs 5 euros, so that Bulgarians could afford it. This way the drug becomes very profitable for some exporters - whether it would be a Bulgarian company or a German company or a cooperation between a Bulgarian and a German company. They could buy all the quantities from the Bulgarian market and sell them on the German market at a price of 8 euros, for example, thus making huge profits," Valev explained the mechanism of the phenomenon.