NEW DELHI, Sept 29: Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) today welcomed the Group of Ministers’ (GoM) approval of a proposal to increase the number of essential drugs under price control to 348 from the current 74 drugs.
“CII welcomes the move by the Government to make essential drugs more affordable and accessible to the society. The new policy recommends a shift from cost based to market based pricing which is a fair approach and it will help improve the availability of essential medicines,” the chamber said.
The GoM has recommended a weighted average based pricing system of all the 348 medicines and 614 formulations under the National List of Essential Medicines that was finalised in 2011.
As much as 60 per cent of these medicines could see a price reduction of over 20 per cent and the remaining 40 per cent below 20 per cent.
The approval will go to the cabinet for the final view.
CII said the proposed policy will expand the span of price control to around 30 per cent of the domestic pharmaceutical market and impact revenues of the industry which is already facing increased input costs, inflation and a variety of regulatory challenges.
However, the chamber said it is “hopeful that the Government would extend some exemptions proposed in the draft National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy 2011 by the Department of Pharmaceuticals.”
(UNI)
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