Drug pricing is front and centre as the year begins, with a long-running case on the issue due to come up this fortnight in the Supreme Court. Price control on medicines has proved contentious: the pharmaceutical industry says competition will level out prices, but the government brought in price control on medicines in the National List of Essential Medicines. Health advocacy groups are unhappy with the government formula used to cap medicine prices, which is based on the market price of drugs rather than the cost of production. The price control on medicines has been running on this formula; price control has since been extended to medical devices too. The case, scheduled for its final hearing, will add more fuel to drug price discussions.
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