52 new drugs come under price control

New Delhi, Dec 12: To keep a check on prices of essential medicines, the government has brought 52 new drugs under its price control mechanism including some commonly used painkillers and antibiotics, as also those useful in treatment of cancer and skin diseases.

Following the latest move, more than 450 drug formulation packs are now under the price control mechanism of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), which entails the regulator fixing ceiling and retail prices for such medicines.

"The NPPA has fixed/revised the prices in respect of 52 formulation packs both ceiling and retail price packs under DPCO, 2013," the drug pricing regulator said.

The NPPA was established by the government to to fix or revise the prices of controlled bulk drugs and formulations and to enforce prices and availability of the medicines in the country under the Drugs Prices Control Order (DPCO).

According to industry experts, the major drugmakers likely to to be impacted by the latest price control decision include Lupin, Cadila and Merck. The new drugs that have come under price control include commonly-used antibiotics and painkillers as well as medicines used for treating cancer and skin disorders.

The bulk drug formulations that have been added to the controlled list include those containing Paracetamol, Glucose, Amoxycilline, Diazepam, Codeine Phosphate, Ciprofloxacin, Losartan and Diclofenac.

Earlier in September, NPPA had capped the prices of 43 formulation packs including drugs such as antibiotic Ciprofloxacin, BCG vaccine and anti-diabetic Metformin.

In July also, NPPA had reduced the prices of some of the key medicines and had fixed the price of 108 non-scheduled formulation packs of 50 anti-diabetes and cardiac medicines.

The NPPA is also entrusted with the task of recovering amounts overcharged by manufacturers for the controlled drugs from the consumers. It also monitors the prices of decontrolled drugs in order to keep them at reasonable levels.

PTI