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Price control on drugs, mandated by the 2013 Drug Price Control Order (DPCO), has not helped improve access to these medicines in the country, a study by IMS Health has claimed.
In 2013, the DPCO had mandated a price ceiling on 652 unique formulations in India to make medicines affordable and increase public access.
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“Price control has limited impact on improving patient access and is not aligned with the requirements of a vibrant economy like India,” said Nitin Goel, general manager at IMS Health South Asia. IMS Heath is a NYSE-listed healthcare information and technology services company.D G Shah, secretary-general of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, said the artificial price control has introduced distortions in the pharma sector. “Since it is more profitable to manufacture non-controlled products, smaller companies are exiting controlled products. Competition is being eliminated from market. In the long run, prices will move up.”
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The study released on Tuesday said the consumption of price-controlled drugs in rural areas has decreased by seven per cent over the past two years while that of non-price controlled products has risen by five per cent. It said the price of both price-controlled and non-controlled medicines are already among the cheapest in India compared to other developing countries and price increases have been below or at par with inflation.
