Drug order stay extended

Two associations of pharmaceutical companies pleaded for the vacation of the stay, but the bench headed by Chief Justice V N Khare refused to change its mind. The Karnataka High Court had struck down the price control order under the Pharmaceutical Policy of 2002.

Attorney General Soli Sorabjee submitted that a high-power committee had looked into the drug pricing issue in September this year and approved the policy.

Therefore, he said, the court should not interfere in policy matters. The court cannot turn itself into a price-setting committee, he submitted.

The Centre's counsel said it was a misconceived apprehension that many life-saving drugs had not been included in the national list of essential drugs and that the government retained the power to include any drug within the ambit of the list at any point of time. Those who opposed the price control order argued that the criterion of cost effectiveness adopted by the government was faulty.

If that was applied, only 34 of the 356 essential drugs would be left in the price control order. According to the government criteria, combination drugs would not be reckoned for the price control.

Moreover, the drug should have 55 per cent of the market and the turnover should be Rs 25 crore. With these criteria, a few companies could form a cartel and get out of the price control net.

The Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association, a network of doctors working in the rural areas, argued that under the proposed government policy, vital drugs like those for treating TB, filaria, malaria and leprosy would go out of the price control mechanism.

Drug manufacturers submitted that due to the stalemate in the courts, no one knew the policy of the government. Therefore, the government should be allowed to announce the price control order. The court did not accede to this request.