India plans to cap prices on 18 new branded essential drugs

Around 2.7 million people tend to die of cardiovascular problems annually in India. With the figure projected to soar by 1.5 million by 2030, non-communicable diseases and their risk factors are turning out to be the leading cause of mortality, reports The Pharma Letter’s India correspondent.

The World Health Organization had noted that the probability of a 30-70 year old Indian dying from the four main non-communicable diseases (NCDs) - diabetes, cancer, stroke and respiratory diseases - is 26%. NCDs are estimated to have accounted for 60% of all deaths in 2014.

In order to arrest the slide, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has capped the prices of 18 new brands of essential drugs, in a bid to make them cheaper and accessible to patients. The Indian health ministry has also identified the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) as a nodal agency to conduct a survey that will monitor national NCDs targets in the country.