Indian govt pressed to adopt market-based drug pricing by ASSOCHAM

India’s Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM) believes that the Supreme Court ruling (3/10/2012) will result in 70% of the Indian pharmaceutical market put under the inconsistent and inefficient cost based price control mechanism of Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) 1995 and all the 348 molecules will be crippled by the disastrous repressions.

On the contrary, the Chamber says, the Weighted Average Price (WAP) of all brands, having greater than 1% market share formula recommended by the Group of Ministers, will result in over 20% price reduction in 60% of the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM). The Order, the Chamber spokesman said, will severely impact the availability of essential medicines for patients as it will be nearly impossible for industry to supply essential medicines.

In a memorandum submitted to the Finance Minister P Chidambaram, the ASSOCHAM said the WAP mechanism to control the price of essential medicines recommended will achieve twin objectives of public health and industrial growth.