In February this year, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) had reduced prices of coronary stents by up to 85 per cent, capping them at Rs 7,260 for bare metal ones and Rs 29,600 for the drug eluting variety, giving a major relief to patients.
The maximum retail price of a stent prior to the price cap ranged from Rs 25,000 to Rs 1.98 lakh.
Stent manufacturers had stated the step would lead to non-availability of advanced forms of the medical device due to pricing issues.
Earlier in April, the government had rejected applications by multinational firms Abbott and Medtronic seeking withdrawal of their advanced coronary stents from India and asked them to maintain supplies of the products.
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In a notification at that time, NPPA had asked the companies to consider options for price revision before deciding to withdraw their products from the market.
While capping the price of the stents, government had made it mandatory for stent makers to maintain production and supply of coronary stents by invoking an emergency clause under drug price control law citing reports of shortage in market.
A coronary stent is a tube-shaped device placed in the arteries that supply blood to the heart. It keeps the arteries open in the treatment of coronary heart diseases.
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