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With the release of the latest National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), several essential medicines are set to get cheaper in India. These include anti-diabetic drugs like insulin glargine, anti-tuberculosis drugs like delamanid, and antiparasite like ivermectin.
The medicines listed in the NLEM are sold below a price ceiling fixed by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA). Price rise for scheduled drugs is linked to the wholesale price index-based inflation. For non-scheduled drugs, companies can hike prices by up to 10 per cent every year. Scheduled drugs roughly constitute 17-18 per cent of the estimated Rs 1.6-trillion domestic pharma market.
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