Stating this in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad said there was a plan to shift the NPPA under the Health Ministry.
The NPPA, working under administrative control of the Department of Pharmaceuticals in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, fixes or reverses prices of scheduled drugs/formulations as per provisions of the Drugs (Price Control) Order, 1995.
The Minister said no one can sell any schedule drug or formulation covered under the DPCO at a price higher than the price fixed by NPPA/Government.
"Based on monitoring of prices of non-schedule formulations, NPPA has fixed prices in case of 30 formulation packs under it and companies have reduced the prices voluntarily in case of 65 formulation packs," Azad said,
The Minister said there are wide variations in prices of non-scheduled drugs of different brands based on same chemical combinations as there is no control on the launch price of these medicines, even though the prices of non-scheduled drugs are monitored and suitable action is taken by NPPA in cases where the price increase is more than 10 per cent in a period of one year on moving basis.
"Whenever a price increase beyond 10 per cent is noticed, the manufacturer is asked to bring down the price voluntarily, failing which, subject to prescribed conditions, action is initiated under the DPCO for fixing the price of formulations in public interest," the Minister said.
