drug prices

Drug prices

India controls its drug prices by a direct method. It passed a drug price control order which controls the prices of bulk drugs as well as that of formulations. NPPA is a national authority which has the power of controlling the prices of all drugs. In addition, the Govt. is contemplating the idea of setting up a mechanism to negotiate the prices of patented medicines with the innovator companies.  

Drug prices

India controls its drug prices by a direct method. It passed a drug price control order which controls the prices of bulk drugs as well as that of formulations. NPPA is a national authority which has the power of controlling the prices of all drugs. In addition, the Govt. is contemplating the idea of setting up a mechanism to negotiate the prices of patented medicines with the innovator companies. Such a mechanism exists in other countries where strategies such as reference pricing, cost valuation and volume control are used to control prices of drugs.This plan is probably the Govt.'s response to the way Novartis has reacted to its patent application for imatinib being rejected by the Madras High Court. One hopes that the nation wins in the imatinib caseand section 3d stays to prevent attempts of MNCs to continuously evergreen their patents. And one also hopes that India remains a place where high quality drugs are produced at low prices.