Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sacked a senior health official for public criticizing a draft law introducing state regulation of pharmaceutical pricing, according to RIANovosti. The bill, which was passed by the Federal Assembly, has been criticized as running counter to free-market principles and likely to nurture black-market production.

Nikolai Yurgel, who headed the Federal Service for Supervision of Healthсare and Social Development, violated civil service law by expressing “his disagreement with the position of the health ministry and the government (and) siding with experts who have not studied the bill in detail or have openly lobbied against it,” the government said.

The bill includes a ban on sales of meds that are on the list of lifesaving and essential products approved by the government on December 30, 2009, if their prices have not been officially registered. The 5,000-plus meds account for about 35 percent of drug sales in Russia; most are generics, and around 30 percent are produced by non-Russian firms, PharmaTimes notes. The government said the bill sets tougher quality requirements, introduces state regulation of prices, and ensures equal conditions for foreign and domestic pharmacies on the Russian market.