Vitamins, asprin and ciprofloxacin are out of the price control list while maxformin, norfloxacin, salbutamol sulphate, ibuprofen, cinarbin and pentazocine will come under price control as per the new criteria approved by the Cabinet today.
The Cabinet today cleared the long-awaited Pharmaceutical Policy-2002. The policy, which was hanging for almost two years, was pushed through in a hurry as the government wanted to fulfill at least some of its Budget promises. In all, 29 drugs will be under the price control as per the new policy. While only 10 drugs from the current list of 74 drugs will continue to be subject to price control, 19 new drugs will be added to it.
The Cabinet today cleared two of the criteria on the basis of which drugs will be retained under price control, while a third is still under discussion and will be cleared after inter-ministerial discussions. Bulk drugs where more than 50 per cent of the production is in the hands of one company with a moving annual total of (MAT) over Rs 25 crore will come under price control. In addition, drugs where more than 90 per cent of the production is with one company and which have a MAT of between 10-25 crore will also be brought under price control.
The third criteria which is still under discussion is likely to be the cost of treatment criteria. Drugs wherein the cost of treatment per day works out to less than Rs 2 per day were sought to be exempt from price control. The government has also decided to retain the maximum allowable post manufacturing expenses at 100 per cent. Fiscal benefits for encouragement of R&D are, however, being considered by the finance ministry and are expected to be announced in the budget.