New Delhi: India’s top drug price regulator on Monday allowed a 50 per cent hike in the prices of eight essential medicines used by people with asthma, glaucoma, thalassemia, tuberculosis and mental illnesses.
The decision followed a plea from drug manufacturers who claimed that price control measures had made it “impossible” to produce drugs.
The move by the National Pharmaceutical Price Administration (NPPA), which is under the pharmaceutical sector, will result in a significant increase in the prices of 11 of the eight drug formulations.
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These medications include benzylpenicillin 1 million IU injection, atropine injection 0.6 mg, streptomycin powder for injection 750 mg and 1000 mg, salbutamol tablets 2 mg and 4 mg, ventilator solution 5 mg ml, pilocarpine 2 percent drops, and cefadroxil. 500 mg tablet, contains 500 deferoxamine. mg for injection, 300 mg for lithium tablets.
Regarding price regulation, the Indian government has classified scheduled and unscheduled drugs.
Designated medicines, called essential medicines, are included in the National Essential Medicines List. The government determines the price ceiling annually based on the wholesale price index. The wholesale price index typically increases by less than 10 percent each year). This list currently includes 384 medicines, including four medical devices.
On the other hand, for unscheduled drugs that are considered non-essential, manufacturers can set the selling price. However, the annual price increase cannot exceed 10%. According to industry estimates, nearly 80% of drugs on the market are unscheduled drugs.
According to a government statement, the NPPA is subject to applications from concerned pharmaceutical companies for upward revision of prices due to various reasons such as increased cost of active pharmaceutical ingredients, increased production costs, and unsustainable exchange rate fluctuations. are receiving. Manufacture and sale of pharmaceutical products. “The companies have also applied for discontinuation due to the unviability of some of the formulations,” the statement said.
Furthermore, after detailed deliberations last week, the NPPA, in the larger public interest, invoked special powers under Section 19 of the Drug Price Control Order 2013 to prevent the planned increase in the maximum price of medicines. He added that he approved it. According to the government, most of the drugs involved are low-cost and are commonly used as first-line treatments, which are important for national public health programs.
Previously, the NPPA invoked such special powers in 2019 and 2021, allowing a 50% increase in the prices of 21 and 9 drug products, respectively. The move at the time was also aimed at ensuring people continued access to essential medicines.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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