Offer An Article

Pandemic Latest News

India caps prices of 36 more drugs to improve access -government official

An extract from the Reuters story

India has capped the prices of 36 drugs, including those used to treat infections and diabetes, in a move which the Government says is designed to make essential medicines more affordable, a senior official of the country’s drug pricing authority told Reuters on Friday.

The medicines join a list of 348 drugs deemed essential and that are therefore subject to price caps, covering up to 30 percent of the total medication sold in a country where fewer than 20 percent of people are covered by health insurance.

“This is a straight-forward, most predictable, overdue action which has been done by us,”  said an official at the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA).

Global and Indian drugmakers have been hit in India by wide-ranging government-imposed price reductions over the last year. According to this article,  industry officials say prices in the country are already among the lowest in the world, but the cost of drugs is overwhelmingly covered by patients themselves.

India in July capped the prices of more than 100 drugs that are not part of the essential medicines list. The pharmaceutical industry has challenged the move in court.More big selling drugs for treatment of diseases including cancer, HIV/AIDS and cardiovascular could be brought under price cap to make them affordable in the country.The senior official at the pricing authority said the NPPA was drawing up a list of mass-consumed, essential life-saving drugs which it thinks should be added to the essential medicines list, but did not confirm treatments affected.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

%d bloggers like this: