Drug companies up in arms over price control

While the Centre has firmed up its stand on drug pricing by re-emphasising its proposal to bring 354 formulations under price control from the current 74, the country's pharmaceutical industry, under the aegis of the Confederation Indian Industries (CII), has come together to oppose the policy.

In what is a rare instance in the country's pharma sector, all industry associations have jointly asked the government not to proceed on the draft drug policy in the present form.

Ajay Piramal, chairman, CII National Committee on Drugs and Pharmaceuticals, and chairman, Nicholas Piramal India, said by taking a narrow view of price control the government was ignoring drugs' quality.

"Market data shows that due to competition drug prices in the country have not gone up over the last few years. By increasing control, prices will be reduced further. This will drastically impact margins of drug companies and could also affect quality," he said.

Meanwhile, the department of chemicals, which takes care of pricing regulations for medicines and pharmaceuticals, has stressed that the prices of generic drugs will be monitored.

It also said the government would ensure they maintain the prescribed trade margin of 15 per cent for wholesalers and 35 per cent for retailers.

However, Satwant Reddy, secretary, department of chemicals, today announced that vaccines, biologicals and non-branded drugs would be exempted from the price control regime. Additionally, drugs which have a maximum retail price of Re 1 or less, and drugs and other medical utilities procured in bulk by hospitals, would also be kept out of the price regime, she said.

The policy is likely to go for Cabinet's approval soon.

However, the CII Pharma platform , which was represented by both Indian pharma firms and multinational organisations, has strongly put in their contention to the proposal.

They are hoping the policy will not go through in its present form as the consequences will be drastic to the country's healthcare sector.