Human insulin under price control, 15 bulk drugs rates cut

Human insulin has been brought under price-control and prices of 16 scheduled bulk drugs, including derivatives, have been revised. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), in a notification, has also brought 308 formulations under the provisions of Drug Price Control Order (DPCO), 1995.

The prices of all the drugs have been revised downwards, some as much as 36 per cent. The new price notifications come into effect in 15 days from the date of notification. This is the first time that human insulin is brought under price control.

The industry has called it a retrograde step that would gnaw into the bulk drug industry and some have even called it "the last flicker" as the bulk drugs may give way to formulations as subjects to price control.

A taskforce headed by Pranob Sen has already recommended that expanse of drugs under price control be increased with the criteria shifting from the 74 bulk drugs currently under control as per DPCO, 1995, to National List of Essential Medicines.

Profit margins of the drug companies are already on the radar of Chemicals and Petrochemicals Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and NPPA's downward revision seems to be the latest in the government's steps to wield a price whip on the pharma industry.

The notified prices of Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) and its derivative Vitamin B2 5 Phosphate have been revised downward from Rs1525 per kg to Rs 972 per kg and Rs 2721 per kg to Rs2217 per kg respectively, making for a reduction of over 36 per cent and 18 per cent.

The price of bulk drug recombinant, human insulin has been capped at Rs.33,31,261 per kg. At present, Wockhardt and Biocon are the only producers of human insulin in India.

An industry expert said, "This will not only affect the R&D programmes of companies and act as a disincentive to produce price-controlled drugs, it will also heighten the danger of spurious drugs proliferating in the market.

The genuine players are just being driven away." Vitamin A is a classic example where a price ceiling imposed by the government led GSK and Kerala Drug & Pharmaceutical Ltd to close down their units as the tariffs were "unmaintainable".

Among the other bulk drugs that have seen changes in price notification are Sulphamethoxazole Cloxacillin Sodium (Oral) (down by 19 per cent), Cloxacillin Sodium (Sterile) (down by 12.6 per cent) Theophylline (down by 12 per cent) and Hydroxy Ethyl Theophylline (down by 21.4 per cent).

The prices of bulk drugs Vitamin C, Vitamin C (Coated) and Sodium Ascorbate have been revised downward by 17.33 per cent, 20 per cent and 21.5 per cent when compared with the existing prices.