Companies in India overcharge for anti-diabetic and cardiac drugs

India’s regulatory agency the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has detected and issued about 162 demand notices against pharmaceutical companies in India for overcharging consumers with regards to the sale of anti-diabetic and cardiac care formulations whose prices were fixed under Para 19 of the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013.

Responding to a question in Parliament, D V Sadananda Gowda, Minister in the Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizers, said the overcharging by pharmaceutical companies had been brought to the attention of the government and a check on the pricing of the said drugs was on.

Noting that medicine sales in India in 2019 grew at the fastest rate in three years, aided by sales of anti-diabetic and cardiac care drugs, the Minister said the trend for growth of these medicines reflected the rise in the number of diabetes and heart disease patients in the country, and the increasing focus of pharmaceutical companies on the therapy areas.

According to data from market research firm AIOCD-AWACS, sales of medicines in India grew 9.8% year-on-year to 1.4 trillion rupees ($19.18 billion) in 2019, with drugs used to treat chronic diseases leading growth.

Anti-diabetic medicine sales rose 12.6% year-on-year, with a new class of drugs called SGLT2 (sodium-glucose co-transporter 2) inhibitors driving growth, while cardiac care drugs rose 11.7%. Among cardiac medicines, it was the combination drug of sacubitril and valsartan that led sales growth.