In my previous blogs I have given information about Generics and branded drugs and their volume, prices and their costs as per the survey of Singal and Nanda [1] who analyzed the MRPs printed on the containers/labels of branded as well as generic products. The conclusion was that the generics were found costing substantially lower to the retailers in comparison to the branded. Now in this blog I would like to give some more data on costs of various drugs. This time I want to focus on the following points: 1.Almost all the drug products in India are branded generics. Generics are available for only a few categories and only in Govt. hospitals. 2.The prices of drug products are controlled by the DPCO and by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority. 3.The unknown factor can be market competition. When we look at the following tables we can observe that different products of the same drug are having a lot of difference in their prices.

Analgesics and Antipyetics [2]:

Name of Product	Manufactured by	Dosage	Number of units	M.R.P (Rs.)	Cost of each Unit
Aspirin
ASA Tab	Zydus (Medica)	75mg	14	3.86	0.071
CV Sprin Tab	Cadila	75mg	10	1.94	0.194
Ascad Tab	Micro Cardicare	75mg	14	3.68	0.260
Nusprin Tab	Emcure	75mg	10	3.91	0.391
Dispersible aspirin Tab	Astrazeneca	75mg	14	7.81	0.557
Paracetamol
Crocin Tab	GSK	500 mg	15	11.97	0.066
Cofamol Tab	CFL	500 mg	10	4.75	0.475
Doliprane Tab	Piramal HC	500 mg	10	4.88	0.488
Febrex Tab	Indoco (spade)	500 mg	10	10.18	1.018

Antituberculous Drugs [3]:

Name of Product	Manufactured by	Dosage	Number of units	M.R.P (Rs.)	Cost of each Unit
Cycloserine
Myser Cap	Panacea	250 mg	100	450.00	4.500
Cyclokox Cap	Radicure	250mg	100	4850.00	48.500
Ethambutol
Albutol Tab	Alkem	800mg	100	136.90	1.369
Anbutol Tab	Psycorem	800mg	100	389.00	3.890
Ethionamide
Ethide Tab	Lupin	250mg	100	327.70	3.270
Enamide Tab	SG Pharma	250mg	100	600.00	6.000
Doliprane Tab	Piramal HC	250mg	100	1070.00	10.700
Isoniazid +Ethambutol
Myconex-800 Tab	Candila (Le sante)	Ethambutol 800m, INH 300mg	10	44.11	4.411
Radibutol-IN	Radicura	Ethambutol Hcl 800mg, INH 300mg	120	600.00	5.000

Antibiotics [4]:

Name of Product	Manufactured by	Dosage	Number of units	M.R.P (Rs.)	Cost of each Unit
Penicillamine
Cilamin Cap	Zydus (Medica)	250mg	10	110.00	11.00
Artamine (cardion) Cap	VHB (Cardion)	250mg	50	675.00	13.50
Artamine Cap	Panacea	250mg	50	800.00	16.00
Amikacin
Amiact AMP	Active HC	500mg/2ml	1	49.00	49.00
Lupamik INJ	Lupin	500mg/2ml	1	70.00	70.00

As to why this picture is so; I can only say that the excipients, packings and other ancillaries being used by different companies are widely different. I invite your opinions on this issue. Reference: 1. Singal G.L and Arun Nanda. Generic drugs in India - whether and affordable alternative to branded drugs: A critical study. The Pharma Review. (2008), 6:37-42. 2. CIMS July-Oct 2009. Page 172-174. 3. CIMS July-Oct 2009. Page 349 4. CIMS July-Oct 2009. Page 266. This blog does not contain any plagiarized material.