New Delhi: Prices of 42 essential medicines used in treatment of various ailments including tuberculosis, cancer, cardiac diseases, tuberculosis, asthma, epilepsy, rheumatoid arthritis and depression have been capped by the government, reducing their cost by up to 15 per cent.
Drug price regulator, National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) said it has “has fixed/revised ceiling prices of 45 scheduled formulations of Schedule-I under Drugs (Price Control) Amendment Order, 2016.”
NPPA said manufacturers not complying with the ceiling price would be liable to deposit the overcharged amount along with interest thereon under the provisions of the Drugs (Price Control) Order, 2013. The authority has also fixed the retail price of 12 formulations under DPCO, 2013. In another notification, NPPA said it has also “fixed/ revised ceiling prices of 32 scheduled formulations packs of IV Fluids”.
The government fixes the prices of essential drugs based on the simple average of all medicines in a particular therapeutic segment, having sales of more than 1 per cent. Companies are allowed to hike prices of such drugs by up to 10 per cent in a year.
