Ppdb Price Anomaly Check

Checking a PPDB price anomaly

Overview

Price is the largest rule family in the catalogue (10 of 36 rules) and the one with the most 🔴 Critique entries. Moroccan drug prices are regulated in bands, so "looks high" is not a judgement call — there is a rule.

REQUIRED: the using-ppdb-mcp skill covers connection and tool selection.

Steps

1. Load the rules — do not recall them.

   ppdb_list_anomaly_rules(famille="Prix")
   

   Returns all 10 with their severity and a concrete example of each violation.

2. Classify the product. Regulated bands apply to Médicament. Parapharmacy and compléments alimentaires are not price-banded — check the category first with ppdb_get_data_model if unsure.

3. Check against the official source. Prix différent de la source officielle (écart with AMMPS) is 🔴 Critique. Find the authoritative source:

   ppdb_list_sources(nature="Officiel", type_produit="Medicament")
   

4. Apply the severity's defined action. Each level carries one — the legend comes back with the rules. 🔴 Critique is correction obligatoire, not advisory.

5. If the fix touches a critical field, require two sources. Governance Règle 05: prix, DCI and AMM need two concordant sources. Confirm with ppdb_get_governance_rules rather than assuming.

What the bands actually encode

The rules reference PPV thresholds and fixed-margin tiers between PPV and PPH. Read the exact wording from the tool — the rows are terse and paraphrasing them loses the threshold. Report the rule text verbatim alongside your conclusion.

Common mistakes

Calling a price "aberrant" without citing a rule. Prix aberrant is its own rule (🟠 Majeure, market-average comparison) and is distinct from being outside a regulated band (🔴 Critique). They have different actions.

Treating zero as merely missing. Prix obligatoire (empty) and Prix positif (zero or negative) are two separate 🔴 Critique rules. The audit found thousands of active products priced at zero — that is the second rule, not the first.

Applying medicine bands to parapharmacy. Classify before you judge.

Proposing a correction from one source. Règle 05 blocks it.

Red flags

• About to state a price threshold from memory → call ppdb_list_anomaly_rules
• About to say "this price is fine" without naming the rule that clears it
• Recommending a change to prix/DCI/AMM citing a single source