Medicine Price Hike: The prices of essential medicines including pain killers, antibiotics, anti-virus are going to increase from April. The government has allowed a hike of more than 10 per cent for scheduled drugs.
According to The Economic Times, India’s Drug Pricing Authority on Friday allowed a 10.7 per cent hike in prices for scheduled drugs, which are under price control. This is the highest price hike allowed. Under the National List of Essential Medicines (NLIM), the price of more than 800 medicines will increase from April.
According to media reports, on March 23, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), a government regulatory agency that controls the prices of medicines in India, asked companies to submit necessary documents to increase prices based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI). Was. Then it was said that from April 1, the price of all essential medicines could increase by about 2 percent.
How are drug prices changed?
The office memorandum issued by the Pricing Authority on Monday said, “As confirmed by the Economic Advisor (Ministry of Commerce and Industry), the annual change in the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) during the calendar year 2016 is the same as of 2015.” 1.97186% as compared to the period.
According to the Drug Price Control Order, the price of essential drugs is changed by the regulator based on the change in the WPI of the pharmaceutical company.
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The prices of drugs, which are part of the National List of Essential Medicines, are controlled directly by the government by capping the maximum prices of drugs on a simple average with a minimum market share of 1 percent on all drugs in a particular segment. goes.
Which medicines will be expensive?
The National List of Essential Medicines includes more than 875 drugs, including antiretrovirals used to treat diabetes, cancer drugs, hepatitis, high blood pressure, kidney disease, etc.
Companies that are not part of the National List of Essential Medicines are allowed to increase their prices by up to 10 per cent annually. At present, more than 30 per cent of the pharmaceutical market is under direct price control.
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