The Central Government on Wednesday said it had resolved all issues concerning the drug pricing policy and would finalise its stand before November 27, the deadline set by the Supreme Court.
A Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday met to discuss the issues.
“We have resolved all the issues. There were certain issues that were raised by my colleagues. We discussed them in depth and we have come to an agreed formula...I think we will be able to take Cabinet’s approval before November 27,” Mr. Pawar told reporters here after the meeting.
The GoM met after the Cabinet had deferred a decision on it following objections from the Finance Ministry.
The policy, that aims to bring 348 essential drugs under price control, was earlier approved by the GoM on September 27 and was subsequently sent to the Cabinet.
At present, the government through the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) controls prices of 74 bulk drugs and their formulations.
According to a source, this time, the GoM has proposed to fix prices based on average prices of all brands unlike last time’s when the ministers’ panel agreed at fixing prices based on weighted average, which have more than 1 per cent market share.
Keywords: Drug pricing policy
