Panacea or Pain for Pharma? Drug Price Watchdog to Meet Today on Reducing Prices of Key Medicines

With an eye on reducing the prices of critical medicines in the coming months, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) will hold a meeting with big pharma companies on Friday, News18 has learnt.

The objective of the meeting, which is scheduled through video conferencing, is to understand the concerns of pharmaceutical companies and their suggestions around trade margin rationalization (TMR) on non-scheduled medicines.

While non-scheduled medicines do not fall under the price control mechanism of the government, the TMR is a mode of price regulation by way of capping trade margins in the supply chain.

Trade margins are the difference between the price to trade by manufacturers and price to patients as the Maximum Retail Price (MRP). The drug price watchdog, NPPA – a department under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers – is responsible for regulating the prices and availability of medicines in India.

“We are convinced that TMR is a balanced approach to ensure reasonable pricing of medicines and medical devices. Before more such moves are announced by the government, we want industry stakeholders to express their views and concerns,” a senior government official from the department of pharmaceuticals told News18.com.

“The final move can then be planned accordingly and their concerns may be incorporated,” said the official who is working closely with the NPPA on bringing the prices of critical medicines down.

The consultation with the industry will be headed by NPPA chairman Kamlesh Kumar Pant.

Not for the First Time

In 2018-19, the NPPA had put a cap on trade margins of 42 select non-scheduled anti-cancer medicines.

Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya in Lok Sabha had said the move resulted in reduction of up to 90% of Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of 526 brands of these medicines.

Moreover, this year, NPPA has extended the timeline for the trade margin capping of the five medical devices, which are essential during the Covid-19 pandemic period till July 31, 2022.

In February, it had issued an order that the capping on the trade margin of the five medical devices — pulse oximeter, blood pressure monitoring machine, nebuliser, digital thermometer and glucometer — at 70% at first point of sale, to be extended from the earlier period ending January 31, 2022, to July 31, 2022.

Read all the Latest India News here