India looks to set rare diseases drug policy and develop domestic treatments

As the incurable Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a rare genetic disease, takes a heavy toll of children in India, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has given instructions to speed up the process of formulating the National Policy for treatment of Rare Diseases, reports The Pharma Letter’s India correspondent.

As a ministry official pointed out, "if we apply the international estimate of 6% to 8% of population being affected by rare diseases to India, we have between 72 to 96 million people affected by rare diseases in the country, which is a significant number. However, the average price of a drug for rare diseases exceeds $100,000 a year," he said.

Globally, though legislations on orphan drug development exists, like the US Orphan Drug Act which has facilitated development of orphan drugs, they have not been able to check the prices of these drugs, said the official.