Retail Price and Manufacturing Cost of Medicines
Under the provisions of the Drugs (Prices & Control) Order, 1995 (DPCO, 1995) the prices of 74 bulk drugs listed in its First Schedule and the formulations containing any of these scheduled drugs are controlled. National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) fixes or revises prices of scheduled drugs / formulations as per the provisions of the DPCO, 1995. Consequently, no one is allowed to sell any scheduled drug / formulation at a price higher than the price fixed by NPPA.
However, in respect of drugs not covered under the DPCO, 1995 i.e. non-scheduled drugs, manufacturers fix the prices by themselves without seeking the approval of Government / NPPA. There are wide variations in the prices of non-scheduled drugs of different brands based on same chemical combinations as there is no control on the launch price of these medicines. However, the trend in prices of non-scheduled drugs is monitored and suitable action is taken by NPPA where price increase is more than 10% in a period of one year on moving basis.
National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy, 2012 (NPPP-2012) notified by the Government on 7th December, 2012 has the provision of bringing the medicines listed under National List of Essential Medicines 2011 (NLEM-2011) under price control.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Shri Srikant Kumar Jena in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
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