But new price fixing mechanism helps cancer patients the most
Picture used for representational purpose. (Photo: DC/File)
Kochi: Before you blame the local pharmacist for fleecing you by charging you more for the drugs that you have been accustomed to buying for much less, you need to sit back and give him a chance as the prices of drugs in daily use have gone up of late under a mechanism put in place a year ago.
While the government upped the number of drugs under the National List of Essential Medicines subjected to price control from 74 to 348 drugs, it also changed the price fixing system from being based on manufacturing cost to the market-based pricing in May last year. In the process it also put a ceiling, 10 per cent of the MRP of a drug – on the price hike.
“This change in price takes place once a year and now is the time for it,” explains Deputy Drug Controller of the state, M R Pradeep.
Under the new market-based price mechanism, the average market price of different brands of the same drug is taken and after considering their market share, a ceiling is fixed, the maximum rise permitted being 10 per cent of the MRP.
Pharmaceutical firms can, however, approach the Union government if they have to factor in the cost of importing a raw material and get permission to go in for an increase in price which may exceed the 10 per cent ceiling, says the officer.
While the government added another 108 drugs to the list on July 10 this year , the existing stock of these drugs needs to be exhausted before they can be brought under the price control regime.
“It will take another year for the market pricing mechanism to come into effect in the case of these 108 drugs. Last year, the government introduced price control in five phases up to August in the case of 652 formulations and so the impact of the new regime will be felt up to this August,” Mr Pradeep adds.
The new price fixing mechanism is helping cancer patients the most.
“The order of 1995 did not bring cancer drugs under the price control mechanism, but around 25 of them were included in the 2013 order and their prices have fallen further this year,” Mr Pradeep reveals.
Drug Controller and Licensing Authority, P Hariprasad notes that the the drug prices are linked to the wholesale price index as well.
“As WPI changes, the prices change, but will not increase more than 10 per cent annually,” he says, arguing that no one should be surprised if the prices of drug go up as prices of almost all commodities are rising.
The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), which fixes the drug prices and issues the notification concerned using its powers under the Price Control Act and Essential Commodities Act, added a slew of heart, diabetes, and blood pressure drugs to the price control list on July 10 this year following its assessment of the impact of bringing 652 formulations under price control.
The NPPA explained it was bringing heart medicines under price control as heart disease was on the rise among those below 30.
Interestingly, Gujarat pharmaceutical firms are dominating the drug manufacturing scene in the country. “It has to be seen how the firms twist the market-based price mechanism in their favour in days to come,” says an official.
( Source : dc )
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