New pharma app will allow users greater freedom

The mobile app, likely to be launched by the year end, will have a list of all drug formulations for every existing drug manufacture or importer.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has asked all pharma companies to register themselves with the Integrated Pharmaceutical Database Management System (IPDMS). “The NPPA has written to all drug manufactures/ importers/ distributors to provide details of each drug that they are dealing in to the department. The NPPA has sought details like manufacturing cost as well as retail price of each formulation,” a senior NPPA official told Millennium Post.

“Once the NPPA gets the details from drug manufactures, the department will launch the IPDMS. The system is likely to be launched in the last week of May. The department will validate the authenticity of the drugs, after the process of data collection is completed as without validating the data, it cannot be put on public domain,” the official said.

According the NPPA official, the app, which is at the nascent stage, will work on both Android and Microsoft platform. With the help of this app, a user will be able to explore alternate medicines to suit his pocket. “The app will be helpful in checking the nexus between doctors and drug manufacturers.

 If a pharma major manages to get its medicine prescribed by some noted doctor, patients will be able to use the app to get details of similar drugs available in the market, compare their prices and get the medicine of their choice. The NPPA has proposed to bring all type of drugs - scheduled and non-scheduled - on the proposed app,” the official said.

The National Information Centre (NIC) will extend technical support to the NPPA for the mobile app. The NPPA is likely to launch the app by the year end with above 1.5 lakh drug formulations, including generic drugs.