Pharma multinationals facing more pricing problems in India

3 February 2014

Even as a battle royal appears to be brewing between India's drug price regulator, the National Pharma Pricing Authority and the Ministry of Health over price control for time release drugs, multinational drug majors are staring at a series of setbacks in India's new price control regime, reports The Pharma Letter’s Indian correspondent.

The local subsidiaries of GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK), Wyeth (since 2009 a part of Pfizer; NYSE: PFE) and Novartis (NOVN: VX) are expected to bear the brunt of the new Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) given their higher exposure to the Indian market, and the fact that they have premium pricing for some drugs.

India's new pharma pricing policy came into play in June last year after a gap of 18 years, with the government setting the price cap for 650 formulations. Prices of 348 drugs, termed essential by the Indian government and which account for 60% of the entire domestic drug market, are currently being lowered.

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