 "Pharma market to lose Rs 647 cr from drug price ceiling")
After the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority fixed ceiling prices of 103 formulations last week, an immediate impact of Rs 647 crore (price to retailer) is estimated. The cardiac segment is the most hit, with a loss pegged at Rs 250 crore.
Data analysed by AIOCD-AWACS, market research wing of the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD), representing about 500,000 medicine sellers across India, shows the coverage value of these 103 formulations is 4,839 crore or 5.3 per cent of the pharma market in the country.
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After the cardiac segment's loss of Rs 250 crore comes anti-infectives at Rs 123 crore and neuro-CNS at Rs 84 crore.
At present, the government caps prices of essential drugs based on the simple average of all medicines with sales of more than one per cent. The government had notified the Drug Price Control Order, covering 680 formulations, with effect from May 15, 2014, replacing the 1995 order that regulated prices of only 74 bulk drugs.
Viranchi Shah, vice-chairman of the Gujarat State Board of the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association, complained while the prices of formulations had been capped, there was hardly any control on input prices.
By AIOCD analysis, the coverage value for Sun Pharma is Rs 348 crore. For Lupin, Zydus, Cipla and Pfizer, the cap would cover drugs worth Rs 301 crore, Rs 225 crore , Rs 213 crore and Rs 163 crore, respectively.
