Band-aid solution

Price control on stents may have only a limited impact

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) on Monday announced a price ceiling for stents, a mesh tube which is placed in arteries to improve the blood flow to the heart. This was done after the government included stents in the National List of Essential Medicines. The ruling has, on paper, sharply cut down stent prices. According to the NPPA order, the price of a bare metal stent will be capped at Rs 7,260 while the drug-eluting ones and the biodegradable stents will be priced at Rs 29,600 apiece, exclusive of taxes. Before the order, stent prices ranged between Rs 25,000