NITI panel to suggest price control of drugs outside NLEM, says Paul

Committee chairman says NPPA should be made independent and stronger

The new high-level committee under NITI Aayog will identify drugs outside the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) and recommend pricing caps whenever there’s a need. Speaking to Business Standard, V K Paul, member, NITI Aayog, and chairman of the Standing Committee on Drugs and Health Products, said, “we will recommend changes depending on what’s beneficial to the public, so that one doesn’t have to wait for NLEM to be amended.’’ This would include cancer drugs as well.

The newly formed committee was of the view that price cap should be done in a systematic way, Paul said, while stressing that