Top representatives of various industry bodies and other stakeholders will get a chance to make presentations to the Group of Ministers (GoM) on a pharmaceutical pricing policy tomorrow, it is learnt. The GoM, headed by Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, is slated to have its second meeting on Monday to discuss possible mechanisms for regulating prices of 348 essential medicines.
As many as nine presentations by different organisations are expected to be made during the meeting at Krishi Bhavan, a source told Business Standard. The department of pharmaceuticals has invited representatives of industry bodies such as Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India, Indian Pharmaceutical Association, Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association and the Confederation of Small Scale Industries to give their inputs on how essential medicines can be made available at affordable prices.
Two major national chemist and druggist associations have also been allotted individual time slots to make presentations on the pricing of drugs. Besides, two civil society health groups — All India Drug Action Network and Jan Sabha — besides MP Jyoti Mirdha have been given slots of 30 minutes each to present their views. Mirdha may sit through the GoM meet.
This GoM had earlier met in end-April this year, but deferred its decision on capping prices of essential medicines. While a decision is unlikely to be taken tomorrow, the ministerial panel may arrive at a consensus in its next meeting expected by the end of June, according to people in the know.
“Due to the petition in the Supreme Court and the PMO effort to resolve the matter, we are expecting the GoM to take a call in its next meeting in June based on the recommendations that will be made on Monday,” a source said.
In October last year, the department of pharmaceuticals had proposed a draft National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy, 2011, that seeks to regulate prices of 348 essential drugs and its combinations sold in the country at the average price of three best-selling brands. The health ministry and NGOs are opposed to this model, and instead are pushing for a cost-based formula.
The drug industry wants a market-based pricing formula and the scope of the price control to be limited to the 348 drugs alone.
According to sources, during the last GoM meet, health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad argued the prices of drugs should be based on the cost of production. The ministerial panel may now have to find a mechanism to deal with the differences.
The GoM recommendation will be referred to the Union Cabinet for its approval. Also, a final nod of the Supreme Court will be required before the policy can be put in force.
The current GoM was constituted in 2009. The previous GoM on pharma, set up in January 2007, was also headed by Pawar. It held four meetings through 2007 and 2008, but could not arrive at any consensus. The last meeting was in April 2008.
The delay in the announcement of a pharma policy had resulted in public interest groups petitioning the Supreme Court. The judicial intervention led to the fresh thrust on a pharma pricing policy.
