Govt awaits comment on draft pharma pricing policy 2011

24 Nov 2011 Evaluate

On the draft National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy (NPPP), 2011, the government said, no timeframe can be given for the implementation of the draft policy as it is awaiting the response from the concerned ministries and stakeholders.

The Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Srikant Kumar Jena said, ‘no definite timeframe can be indicated, as a feedback on the draft policy has been asked from various ministries, departments of the Government of India and stakeholders by November 30, 2011. Thereafter, the final draft policy would be prepared considering the feedback.’

The government's aim to regulate prices of all 348 essential drugs in the country is not going well with the Indian pharma industry. The government is aiming to regulate prices of all essential drugs in country by National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy (NPPP) 2011. The draft NPPP, 2011 proposes to regulate prices of drug formulations only, unlike the existing principle of controlling prices of specified bulk drugs and their formulations as adopted in drug policy, 1994.

The draft NPPP policy also seeks to bring 60% of the total domestic pharmaceutical market, which is around Rs 29,000 crore under prices control. The draft also recommends that the 348 drugs specified in the National List of Essential Medicines 2011 will be under price control.

However, industrial bodies have criticized the proposed draft bill by arguing that it is short sighted and does not consider the long-term availability of drugs. Further, they also hinted that this move of government to control prices of all 348 essential drugs will push the pharmaceutical sector into a semi-recession.

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