Govt mulls alternate ways for drug price control

The government is planning a back-door route to bring more drugs under price control as the proposed National Pharmaceutical Policy seems unlikely to materialise in the near future.

"As there is uncertainty about the fate of Pharmaceutical Policy, the government is looking for other alternatives for bringing more drugs under the preview of price control," a senior government official told PTI.

Other alternatives include, amending Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) 1995, expanding national list of essential medicines and bringing more medicines under the category of scheduled drugs, the official said.

The move is unlikely to face resistance from the Health Ministry, which had earlier raised objections to certain provisions of proposed draft of the National Pharmaceutical Policy 2006.

The draft policy prepared by the Chemicals Ministry sought to expand the ambit of National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) from 74 to 354 by bringing more drugs under price control.

It had evoked a sharp reaction from the industry which argued that it would adversely affect research and development activities in India as companies would stay away from investing in new drugs.

The draft policy was referred to a Group of Ministries (GoM) by the Cabinet in January 2007. Even after four meetings in last two years, the GoM under the chairmanship of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has not been able to resolve the deadlock.