In a bid to benefit consumers, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority is in a spree to revise prices of drugs prescribed for treating life-threatening diseases .jpg) Piramal Healthcare’s life-saving drug GATRI 400mg Film C Tabs from now on will cost less. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has slashed the price of the drug by 8% fixing the drug price at Rs 73.70. This price slash will benefit consumers suffering from systemic or life-threatening diseases that affect various organs and tissues of the body.An organization under the Indian government, NPPA was established to fix and revise the prices of controlled drugs (drugs that are controlled under the Misuse of Drugs legislation). NPPA also monitors the controlled drug manufacturers who overcharge the consumers. Pricing of decontrolled drugs to keep the same at fair prices is also done by NPPA. These price revisions mostly depend on the change in production and packaging costs.
Manufacturers’ reaction
NPPA’s move has left many manufacturers concerned. Even while drug manufacturers agree that life-saving drugs should be within the affordability of the common people, they cannot ignore the rising prices of raw materials required for manufacturing these drugs.
In this regard, P F Rajugopal, CEO of Shri Hari Laboratories, a small-sized company in Chennai engaged in manufacturing and exporting drugs,,says, “If the prices are reduced like this then it would hit the manufacturers very badly as the cost of the raw materials are skyrocketing. Moreover, the cost of packaging has also gone up. Under such circumstances, NPPA’s any decision to slash drug price is disappointing.”
The same view was echoed by Mehul Shah, CEO of the Ahmedabad-based Krishna Chemicals, a mid-sized company manufacturing and exporting pharmaceutical chemicals and drugs, who opines that any move by NPPA to slash drug prices would result in drug manufacturers producing spurious and sub-standard drugs. “No manufacturer would manufacture drugs without profit. Therefore, such a move on part of NPPA would mean compromising with the quality of drugs manufactured in the country.”
NPPA’s future concerns
In the days to come, NPPA is also expected to exercise its price controlling power on high-cost cancer-related essential drugs. It is collecting data from various pharmaceutical companies in this regard to gauge market size, cost of production and packaging cost.
Shalmoli Kundu |
