The pharmaceutical industry has called for reducing drug price control , ahead of the Union Budget which will be presented on July 10.

In June, the Government had set up a committee to take a re-look at the National List of Essential Medicines and the ambit of control is likely to rise. According to sources, the number of drugs listed in this essential medicines list, which are brought under price control, is likely to increase.

According to a paper by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy, 2012, has been misinterpreted by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) “causing undue hardships on the manufacturers.”

Bhaskar Bhattacharya, Partner in Corporate Law Group, said that excess control can’t be good for any of the stakeholders.

Further, Assocham also said India needs to reduce controls on producing raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry, an Assocham study said on Friday. 

Over 60-70 per cent of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are currently being imported from neighbour China due to the ingredients being cheaper. This leading to massive decline in domestic production of the same, Umang Chatutvedi, global Head (Corporate Affairs) of Ranbaxy, said. 

Further, this dependence has a strong relation to international relations, the study notes, since “any deterioration in relationships with China can potentially result in severe shortages in the supply of essential drugs to the country.”

Chaturvedi said that the Government could look at setting up clusters for API manufacturers in order to help push up domestic production of these important ingredients.

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