Drug firms oppose price control plan

The pharmaceutical industry today voiced its opposition to some key recommendations of the pharma pricing task force.

At their meeting with chemicals and petrochemicals minister Ram Vilas Paswan and task force chairperson Pranob Sen, the industry associations said the recommendations would lead to "more control and then some more".

The task force has recommended price control for 39 molecules and price monitoring in the garb of ceiling MRP for presentations of 246 molecules that are in the National Essential Drugs List.

Debranding of generics is also a focus area of the taskforce's recommendations.

According to an industry executive opposed to this debranding, although on paper it may be meritorious, similar exercises have failed in several countries. He pointed out Russia as a case in point.

"A brand stands for something... quality and trust are what go into building of the brand. Debranding isn't a workable for a country like India with a huge rural population. Generic names are long, confusing, similar sounding and people may end up being administered a wrong drug."

Others felt that the weighted average formula was also "impractical" as companies with prices below the Ceiling MRP will raise their prices and others who may be legitimately having cost greater than the ceiling limit, on account of R&D costs, would be losing out. "Where is the advantage to the consumers in here?"

Price negotiations on patented drugs was something the associations were divided on. While some supported it quoting the prevalent norms over the world, others felt that a benchmark could be arrived at by accounting for prices prevalent in other South East Asian countries.