The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority will monitor how companies are increasing prices of non-scheduled drugs.
The government has been stringent with pricing changes. Prices of 651 essential medicines came down from April 1, 2023 by 6.73 per cent with the government capping ceiling prices of these drugs.
The government said that "in exercise of extraordinary powers in public interest, conferred by paragraph 19 of the DPCO, 2013", the ceiling prices of 21 key formulations had been increased. These formulations include common medicines like BCG vaccines, penicillin, malaria and leprosy medicines (Dapsone), life-saving drugs like Furosemide (used to treat fluid build-up due to heart failure, liver scarring, or kidney disease), vitamin C, some common antibiotics, and anti-allergy medicines.
The government has capped the trade margin on oxygen concentrators at 70 per cent in order to keep in check the price of the much in demand critical life saving component amid the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. The trade margin has been capped at 70 per cent on price to distributor level on oxygen concentrators. In an official release, the chemicals and fertilisers ministry said the decision has been taken in view of the extraordinary circumstances arising due to the pandemic which has resulted in volatility in Maximum Retail Prices (MRP) of oxygen concentrators.
The medical devices, which have been in high demand during the Covid-19 pandemic, will now see a drop in prices, as the earlier margins were up to 709 per cent for some of these products.
To ensure equal access to health care, the government must consider it in a holistic manner and improve all parameters.
Some of the proposals (for example trade margin calculation for imported medical devices) were not approved by the PMO and were sent back for revisions.
In a relief to pharma majors, the Delhi high court today held as "illegal and unsustainable" the Centre's decision to put a ceiling on the price of condoms, including the luxury variety.
According to highly placed sources in NPPA, the reduction in prices following the latest exercise will range between six and 53 per cent.
The latest price revision includes mostly cardiovascular drugs, anti-bacterials, anti-herpes, contraceptives and gastrointestinal medicines
GSKAP takes care of all non-nutrition products whereas GSK Consumer Healthcare is a listed entity which deals only in nutritional products.
The drug pricing regulator on Tuesday said it will fix the ceiling prices of over 300 medicines by the end of this month, a move that will come as a major relief to patients.
It will bring 348 essential drugs under price control.
While extending the National List of Essential Medicines will help patients, care has to be taken to ensure this does not lead to a slowdown of production as has happened in case of DPCO drugs.
The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority has decided to have one price for basic utility condoms and the other for pleasure condoms.
The industry feels that prices of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) can go up in the range of 5-15 per cent.
With these 18 drugs, the government now has brought in 467 medicines under the price control.
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The Drug (Prices Control) Order implemented in May last year brought into its purview 652 packs of 348 formulations.
The government regulates prices of all other medicines.
The Economic Survey seems convinced that 2019-2020 saw the bottom of the economic cycle, points out Abheek Barua, chief economist, HDFC Bank.
Povidone iodine ointment and solutions are available in the market under various popular brands such as Betadine and Wokadine.
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Firms are mandated to change prices of medicines within 45 days of NPPA's notification.
There may be shortage of drugs till pharmaceutical companies supply new batches with revised MRPs.
In 2010, Abbott acquired both the pharmaceutical business of Solvay, which had a presence in India, and Piramal Healthcare Solutions, which was part of Piramal Group.
Medicines, including antibiotics, contraceptives and anti-diabetic drugs, were found to be out of stock at various places around Delhi.
The NPPA letter was issued to GSK on Wednesday.
The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority will soon notify prices of as many as 150 packs of essential medicines in line with the new pharma pricing policy, according to official sources.
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