India / Medicines for diseases like cancer-diabetes will be up to 70 percent cheaper government may announce on August 15

New Delhi : The central government may announce a reduction in the prices of essential medicines in the treatment of serious diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart diseases. Sources say that the government has prepared some proposals for this, but the final decision is yet to be taken regarding the announcement. Officials said the Center is concerned about the high prices of some important drugs and is keen to control them.

According to a report in Times of India, a source said, “After the proposal is passed, prices will be cut by up to 70 per cent. The Center is also working to revise the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), 2015, to include those medicines which are currently in wide circulation.

The central government is also considering capping high-trade margins on drugs used by patients for a longer period. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has called a meeting with representatives of the pharma industry on July 26 to discuss the final proposal. According to sources, the trade margin on some drugs is more than 1000%.

60% patients still forced to pay for medicines

The drug price regulator NPPA currently limits the prices of over 355 drugs that are part of the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) and notified under the Drugs Price Control Order. The trade margin on such scheduled drugs is also regulated at 8% for wholesalers and 16% for retailers. All manufacturers of these drugs have to sell their product at or below the maximum price.

However, companies that are outside the direct price control of the government are free to fix prices for all other drugs. They can only increase the price of such drugs by 10% annually. Often the trade margin on such drugs is exorbitant and affects the patients.

The reality is that more than 60% of patients are still forced to pay for medicines on their own. In February 2019, the NPPA, exercising extraordinary powers under the DPCO in the public interest, restricted the trade margin of 41 anti-cancer drugs to 30% on a pilot basis. This resulted in a 90% reduction in the MRP of 526 brands of these drugs. In addition, the government also fixed the prices of coronary stents and knee implants.

In August 2021 the Health Minister told Parliament that the total annual savings due to the revision of ceiling prices of drugs under NLEM, price control of anti-diabetic and heart drugs, capping of TMR on knee implants and anti-cancer is estimated at Rs 12,500 crore. .