Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Oct 03, 2006
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Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Oct 03, 2006 ePaper |
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Pharmaceuticals Government - Policy New drug policy in place, but relief to consumers sometime away P.T. Jyothi Datta
Mumbai , Oct. 2 At Red Cross Chemist opposite Bombay Hospital, Mr Hetal Bhagwatilal Shah sells medicines like he does every day. He is aware that October 2 is when changes in pricing and the dual-language labelling of medicines in English and Hindi were to kick in. But actual change on the ground is more than a month away, till companies exhaust stocks already placed in the market, he says. From October 2, drug companies were to print on the packs details of MRP (maximum retail price), inclusive of all taxes, as per a Central order. In other words, the price that consumers see on the medicine pack is the price at which they buy it, with no additional local charges. Drug companies were also asked to ensure bilingual labelling from the said date. The Centre had also taken a sharp view on the huge trade margins paid by drug companies, especially in the generic-generic segment (where copycat drugs are sold without a brand name). Following industry-Ministry discussions, it had been agreed that wholesale margins would be capped at 15 per cent and retailer margin would be 35 per cent in the generic-generic and branded-generic space. This directive, scheduled to become effective from October 2, was expected to send medicine prices crashing by up to 90 per cent in some cases. But industry top brass are not so sure. A top official with a multinational company was unwilling to even discuss the issue, following what he termed a self-imposed embargo by the industry, as they are still discussing pricing proposals with the apex Ministry. Some pharma company representatives see marginal price revisions in the generic-generic segment, but nothing as dramatic as projected by the Centre. Antibiotic ciprofloxacin sold as a branded generic by Cipla is priced at Rs 89 for 10 tablets; the same medicine is sold by Ranbaxy as Cifran at Rs 89 for 10 tablets. But FDC's version of Ciprofloxacin is priced at Rs 39 for 10 tablets. Prices go down to Rs 15 for 10 tablets, says a chemist. Mr Amar Lulla, Cipla's Joint Managing Director, says that it is not right to equate the product made by a premium company and its manufacturing facility to products made by pharma units that may not meet the Government's Schedule M norms on good manufacturing practices. He told Business Line that the prices of branded generics like Ciplox are unlikely to drop. Mr Kewal Handa, Managing Director of Pfizer India, said that it would be a month before consumers see medicines with the MRP, bilingual and trade-margin changes. Dr Swati Piramal, Director (Strategic Affairs) of Nicholas Piramal, pointed out that companies have started bilingual labelling, as seen in the company's anti-infective drug Bactrim.
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