Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Mar 03, 2006
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Mar 03, 2006 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Industry & Economy
-
Pharmaceuticals Select AIDS, cancer drugs to become cheaper P.T. Jyothi Datta
Mumbai , March 1 Cancer and AIDS drug makers are set to bring down prices on select drugs following the slash in Customs and excise duties on these drugs in the Budget. Mr Amar Lulla, Joint Managing Director of Cipla - which has both AIDS and cancer drugs in its product portfolio - told Business Line that a 10-12 percentage cut in prices on drugs mentioned in the Budget would be passed on to the consumer. AIDS drug makers such as Ranbaxy and cancer drug makers such as Dabur are also expected to reduce prices on the listed drugs, officials with the respective companies said. Medicines used both in the first-line and second-line of treating AIDS have been listed in the Budget for the duty sops. Most of these drugs are on the National List of Essential Medicine (NLEM) and some of them have already witnessed excise duty cuts in the past. Besides the requirement of the treatment regime, second-line AIDS drugs have been sparingly used also because of their high price. As the coverage of anti-AIDS drugs becomes more widespread, the impact of the price cuts would be felt, an industry representative said.
Cancer drugs
Some of the cancer drugs expected to see a downward price revision are cisplatin, cytosine arabinoside, danazol, daunorubicin HCL, etoposide, flutamide, ondansetron, pacitaxel, tamoxifen citrate, vinblastine sulphate, and vincristine, said an industry representative. A large number of these drugs also are in the NLEM. Several Indian and multinational drug companies make cancer drugs or import them, the duty sops in the Budget notwithstanding.
More Stories on : Pharmaceuticals | Health | Budget
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page
|
Stories in this Section |
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | The Hindu Images | Home |
Copyright © 2006, The
Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu Business Line
|