Hyderabad: Fixing the price of the first indigenous coronary artery stent Meril Life Sciences MeRes 100 has become controversial after the issue has been pushed from the technical committee to the standing committee of health ministry following a request from the company.
Despite deliberating for weeks, the issue has not been resolved by the multi-disciplinary expert panel of National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) as they have no precedent of this kind of exemption.
In NPPA meeting, it was said that, in public health the choice of consumer is often based on the price and they lack knowledge regarding quality and efficacy of the product.
A senior member of drug control authority explained, “With India being a price sensitive market, the thrust is always on pricing policy and any decision on price regulation has to be taken with a holistic view.”
With MeRes 100 being the first Indian company to ask for exemption from the essential pricing, the expert committee wants to take into account the therapeutic advantage and increased efficacy of the drug.
The health ministry will now have to decide on whether exemption has to be granted or not. The stents are in essential price list and bare metal stents are sold for Rs 7,660 and drug eluting stents are sold for Rs 27,530.
