The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Plea to regulate medicine prices

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 15, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Plea to regulate medicine prices

Staff Reporter

CHENNAI: Ten tablets of folic acid, a prescribed supplement for pregnant women, cost between Rs. 19 and Rs. 30 in the open market in the State. The same number is procured by the Tamil Nadu Medical Supply Corporation at Rs. 0.59.

The difference in prices between tender rates and over the counter sales does not merely reflect the difference between wholesale and retail prices – they reflect the lack of price control and the enormous profit margins of pharmaceutical companies, representatives of Centre for Consumer Education, Research and Training (CONCERT), said here on Friday.

For instance, the cost of drugs for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis is equivalent to the daily wages of 737 days for a labourer in the country. The cost of drugs for coronary heart disease would equal wages for 209 days.

Lack of price control

Much of the disconnect between pricing of medicines and average income was due to lack of price control, they said. Pharmaceutical major Novartis markets Glivec, medication for treatment of Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia, in the country. The cost of treatment for a month with the drug costs Rs. 1.2 lakh as compared to Rs. 8,000 with Indian drugs.

The actual cost of production is less than Rs. 1,000, CONCERT members said. Similarly, the cost of medication for Rheumatoid Arthritis marketed by Aventis under the name Arava costs Rs. 1, 320 for 10 mg, while those marketed by Ranbaxy, Torrent and Cipla cost about Rs. 80.

The Trust has urged the government to enforce price regulation on all essential drugs, weed out harmful and useless drugs, keep a restricted list of drugs, pool procurement of drugs in all States, control promotional activities of drug companies, provide universal health insurance, increase the health budget and change medical education and public health policy.

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