Essential Drugs Are Made Cheaper by 55% in India

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority of India reduces the prices of various drugs used in the treatment of cancer, diabetes and other critical diseases.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority of India aims to fix and control the prices of bulk drugs and formulations.
Government fixes the ceiling price for 54 essential drugs and 11 retail formulations recently to make medicines easily accessible.
Drug price has been slashed by over 55% for essential medicines and anticancer drug Trastuzumab has been made cheaper by 25%.
Drug manufacturers, distributors and retailers should execute the revised ceiling price immediately.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) by the Government of India has reduced the prices of 54 essential drugs by over 55%. The decision was mainly made to control the drug price and to make them easily affordable for the treatment of cancer, diabetes and other critical diseases.

The revised ceiling prices of 54 drugs of schedule I under Drugs Price Control Order 2016 and drug price of 11 retail formulations under Drug Price Control Order 2013 in related notification was fixed by NPPA on May 9^th, 2016. Drug manufacturers, distributors and retailers were asked to execute the government imposed price as quickly as possible.

NPPA Revises Ceiling Price of 54 Drug Formulations
The price ceiling has been revised as per National List of Essential Medicines 2015 (NLEM). The new revision list notified by NPPA came into immediate effect.

‘The Government of India slashes the ceiling price of essential drugs by 55% to make medicines affordable.’

National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority

The Government of India has established the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority under DPCO 1995 to fix, revise and control the prices of bulk drugs and formulations. It also carries out various other functions related to drug pricing and help in monitoring the availability of drugs, identifies shortage and takes necessary actions respectively.

The NPPA Organization is headed by the Chairman Bhupinder Singh and consists of Secretary members who administer and monitor the overcharging prices of the drugs. Followed by the Advisors who make the essential policies that are required and handle the legal issues related to the price control.

Ceiling Price of Drugs Goes Down By 55%

The Health Ministry of India is constantly taking measures to reduce the drug price and has also increased the initial number of 684 drugs as to 875 drugs which need price control. NPPA has so far reduced the prices of about 280 drugs. And the prices of 54 drugs that have been reduced by NPPA recently also come under the National List of Essential Medicines, 2015.

Govt set to fix price for Essential Drugs
The Centre has decided that from January 2015 all regulated drugs will show ‘DPCO Scheduled Drug’ label in black ink on a bold red strip and their ceiling price per unit, an official source said.

The prices of drugs that have been lowered are mainly drugs that are being used in the treatment of cancer, diabetes and hypertension. Medicines like Trastuzumab which is used for breast cancer has been made cheaper by 25%. The price of beta blockers like propranolol, metoprolol and ACE inhibitors like ramipril used in the treatment of high blood pressure has been reduced.

Some of the prices of retail formulations used in thetreatment of diabetes such as combinations of glimepiride with metformin, teneligliptin with metformin has also been decreased by the pricing authority.

Prices of 103 Drugs to Become Cheaper After NPPA Cap
The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has fixed the ceiling prices of 103 scheduled formulations of Schedule-I under DPCO 2016.

The prices fixed by NPPA was made by focusing primarily on the retail price of the drug that is being sold in the market. This reduction will make the drugs more affordable for the patients and consumers.

Reference:

http://www.nppaindia.nic.in/

Source-Medindia