Indian government moves to increase drug price revision and control

Some more essential drugs to treat cancer, malaria and epilepsy have been brought under price revision and, in certain cases, price control by the Indian government. The move has not gone down well with pharmaceutical companies, reports The Pharma Letter’s India correspondent.

With the government further mulling ways to provide more than 50 essential drugs, including those used in the treatment of cancer and AIDS, at cheaper rates to a large section of the populace, the recent move has added more grist to the mill with a large section of the drug industry already rebelling against price fixing.

At the end of last week, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) revised ceiling prices of 18 drugs, reducing prices by up to 23%. Of the 18, 10 are already part of the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), while another eight have been brought under price control for the first time.