India's drug pricing regulator has revised the costs of several essential drugs.
The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has changed the ceiling prices of at least 8 scheduled drugs to match “twin objectives of availability and affordability”, as mentioned in the press release. The regulator has also mentioned: “Most of these drugs are low-cost and generally used as first-line treatment crucial to the public health programmes of the country.” Have a look on these drugs to be available at a higher price from now.
Benzyl Penicillin 10 lakh IU injection: It is used for treating multiple bacterial infections.
Atropine injection 06.mg/ml: This is used for treating bradycardia or slow heart rate.
Streptomycin powder for injection 750 mg and 1000 mg: This is used for treating tuberculosis and several bacterial infections.
Salbutamol tablet 2 mg and 4 mg and respirator solution 5 mg/ml: It is used for asthma and other respiratory complications.
Pilocarpine 2% drops: This is used for patients suffering from glaucoma.
Cefadroxil tablet 500 mg: This is used for treating several bacterial infections.
Desferrioxamine 500 mg for injection: This is used for treaty anemia and thalassemia.
Lithium tablets 300 mg: This medicine is used for mental health treatment.
Several pharmaceutical companies had been asking the NPPA to permit price hike for several medicines for quite a long time. The major reasons shown by the companies are rising cost of key ingredients and production, associated with increased currency exchange rates. As a result, it became difficult for companies to produce and sale these essential medicines at previous price. Meanwhile, all the drugs are used in critical conditions like asthma, glaucoma, thalassemia, tuberculosis, and mental health disorders.
NPPA's Drugs (Prices Control) Order (DPCO), 2013 mentioned to “regulate the prices of essential drugs to meet the country's public health needs while preventing shortages that could occur if drugs become economically unsustainable for manufacturers,” in Paragraph 19. To satisfy the mandate, ceiling prices of these scheduled formulations were revised.
“Companies have also applied for discontinuation of some of the formulations on account of their unviability,” NPPA said in a recent statement.
A ceiling price for a drug is the “mandated maximum amount” that a seller is allowed to charge for any medicine. According to Indian drug policy: “The ceiling price of a scheduled drug is determined by first working out the simple average of price to retailer (PTR) in respect of all branded-generic and generic versions of that particular drug formulation having a market share of 1 percent and above, and then adding a notional retailer margin of 16 percent to it.”
This needs to be mentioned by NPPA at a regular interval in the Gazette of India (Extraordinary). The ceiling prices are generally notified as exclusive of excise duty and local tax.
Some low-cost medicines were on the verge of vanishing from the market as manufacturers shifted their dependency on China companies. Dr Yatin Mehta, chairman, critical care, at Gurugram’s Medanta Hospital said: “These are low cost but essential drugs. No point in killing the chicken before it lays the eggs. Industry also must survive. This action is timely and essential.”
This is the third time (previously in 2019 and 2021) in last five years when the NPPA has revised the ceiling price of scheduled drugs.
