Press Trust of India / Mumbai Nov 30, 2009, 19:33 IST
The government today said it expects the National Pharmaceutical Policy, drafted during the previous UPA regime, that aims at bringing more medicines under the preview of price control, is expected to be tabled in the Budget session of Parliament.
"We expect it (pharma policy) to get materialised in the next Parliament session," Department of Pharmaceuticals secretary Ashok Kumar said lines of a pharma event here.
The policy framed in the previous UPA regime has been hanging fire for the past three years with the industry strongly lobbying against former chemicals and fertilisers minister Ram Vilas Paswan's move to bring more essentials drugs under the price control regime.
The draft policy had proposed expanding the national list of essential medicines to 354 from the current 74. The pharma industry opposed the move citing that it would kill innovation in the sector.
Later, the government had instituted a group of ministers headed by the then agriculture minister Sharad Pawar to look into the matter. However, the policy didn't materialise even after four meetings of the GoM.
The incumbent chemicals and fertilisers minister MK Alagiri has said that he would revive the National Pharmaceutical Policy and has written to the Prime Minister seeking continuation of the GoM under Pawar.
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