If the drug patent is lost, the price will be reduced by 50%, and after one year MRP According to a government notice accessed by TOI, the change will be in parallel with changes in the wholesale price index stipulated for planned drugs. This policy change will be reflected in the 2023 Medicines (Pricing Control) Amendment.
“The government has followed this principle for several years. Now it’s formalized,” said an industry expert. Typically, when a drug loses its global monopoly, the price plummets by up to 90% with the arrival of generic versions.
Government decision clarifies prices multinational pharma will charge for blockbusters drugs which the patent expires. This has been a thorny problem for many years, and multinational corporations and governments have failed to solve it.
In recent years, the prices of popular antidiabetic drugs such as vildagliptin and sitagliptin, as well as heart drugs such as valsartan, have plummeted as they lose their monopoly. Subsequently, the National Drug Pricing Administration also fixed price ceilings for the two drugs to improve affordability and availability.
“Once the patent expires, high-quality generic drugs can enter the market, reducing overall healthcare costs and improving access to medicine. Moving towards more affordable treatments and prescribing them to more patients Usually for innovative medicines it’s a high volume and high growth market, leaving room for good players There is,” said an industry expert.
Overall, with respect to patented medicines, policy is still in limbo due to divergent views. To date, the government has set up multiple committees to advance the price mechanism, and has discussed multiple methods such as negotiations and reference prices. Experts say the price of the patented drug will remain out of reach for most of the public even after negotiations.