India has extended price control on 39 more medicines used to treat diseases such as diabetes, infections, digestive disorders and pain among others, in an effort to make them affordable.
“These drugs, which are put under the scanner, have a market size of around Rs.1,054 crore. The reduction in the price ranges from 5-40 per cent, depending upon drug category,” Sarabjit Kour Nangra, Vice-President Research-Pharma, Angel Broking, said.
Some of the medicines, which have been put under price control, include Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride, Cefotaxime, Paracetamol, Domperidone and Metformin+ Glime.
The announcement was made in a notice on National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority website. Already, 652 medicines are under price control. “Most of them are for drugs made by specific companies,” said Hari Natarajan, Vice-President, Business Intelligence-India and Global Audit at research firm AIOCD Pharmasofttech AWACS Pvt. Ltd.
The medicines are made by multi-national firms such as Abbott Laboratories, GlaxoSmithKline Plc and domestic firms such as Lupin Ltd., Cadila Healthcare Ltd., Ipca Ltd., and Sun Pharmaceuticals, among others.
However, Angel Broking’s Mr. Nangra said the move to cap prices would have a limited impact on the firms. “The overall impact for the companies will be minimal as these drugs are not from significant part of their overall sales,” he added.
