NPPA makes a move to fix price of key life-saving drugs
National price regulator asks drug makers & marketing companies to furnish 'price to retailer' details in 7 days
New Delhi: In a major move aimed at ensuring life-saving medicines at affordable prices, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has moved ahead to fix the ceiling prices of key drugs used in the treatment of cancer, tuberculosis, hepatitis C, etc.
In this regard, the national drug price regulator has directed manufacturers as well as marketing companies of the key life saving drugs to furnish the details of price to retailers (PTR) and moving annual turnover (MAT) in value terms for the month of July, 2022 in the next seven days.
The drug makers have asked to submit the sought details in a prescribed format given by the NPPA. As per the NPPA letter in this regard, the medicine manufacturers have been asked to furnish formulation details along with brand of the medicine, its composition and strength, dose/specification and price to retailer details for July 2022. In its order dated November 11, the NPPA had included some of the commonly used drugs to treat tuberculosis under the purview of essential medicine list.
The details from drug makers have been sought to fix the ceiling price of bedaquiline tablets, bendamustine hydrochloride injection, irinotecan Hcl trihydrate, buprenorphine tablet, daclatasvir tablet and some other formulations.
The NPPA has also asked pharma companies to furnish the sought information within the stipulated time period for fixing the ceiling prices of drugs in a transparent manner.
Notably, bedaquiline tablet is used to treat people who have multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), which is a serious infection that affects the lungs and other parts of the body and that cannot be treated with at least two of the medications that are usually used to treat the condition.
Daclatasvir drug, which is used in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, is generally available between the price band of Rs 3,000 to Rs 7,000.
Another important drug is bendamustine injection, which is used to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia – a type of cancer of the white blood cells.
