This refers to “Govt moves to tighten drug price control” (June 14). As of now, there does not seem to be any control on drug prices since the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) does not have any powers. The policy of setting the prices of a fifth of the medicines by the government is faulty and is playing havoc with the ordinary consumer. Chinu Srinivasan of the Low Cost Standard Therapeutics and Rajya Sabha member Abani Roy are not exaggerating when they say that the domestic drug market on average is overpriced by three-four times and that there are huge price differences between different brands of the same medicine due to high profit margins allowed to drug companies in the name of quality. Let me cite an example: atorvastatin and aspirin tablets are prescribed for cardiac patients. The MRP of a strip of 10 atorvastatin tablets of 10 mg, going by the brand name Atorec is Rs 75.90 while the MRP of Atorva, manufactured by Zydus Cadila, is Rs 94. Similarly, the MRP of a150 mg aspirin tablet with the brand name Loprin DS is Rs 6.07 whereas Atorva Asp 150, a combination of 10 mg atorvastatin and 150 mg aspirin is Rs 18.96. Is there any convincing explanation for such a huge price difference?
The “functional linkage” between the offices of the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) and the NPPA serves little purpose since manufacturers are enjoying the freedom to price their drugs as they wish. Effective steps should be taken by the government to bring down drug prices by cutting high profit margins to ensure uniformity of prices. If Chinu Srinivasan’s cooperative initiative can produce affordable medicines why can’t other drug manufacturers do so?
M C Joshi, Lucknow
