NPPA vs Pharma makers: Industry body knocks Ananth Kumar's door over notice

Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, the industry body that represents leading drug makers, has written to minister for chemicals and fertiliser Ananth Kumar, expressing resentment against a recent order of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA). 

Recently, NPPA issued show-cause notices to leading drug makers over ''suspected overcharging''. 

The letter, a copy of which Business Standard has reviewed,  states, “We trust you will take requisite action to protect the reputation of our companies not only in India but globally, as such unwarranted public statements sully the image of the domestic industry around the world.” 

IPA states that of the 20 companies in the alliance, 14 comply with all pricing norms. These 14 had been accused of overcharging in the cases of 145 formulations. These notices were sent to companies for the first time in February. At the time, NPPA issued notices for 634 cases of overcharging. This included commonly used medicines like Ring-guard and Gelusil.

Subsequently, each month, NPPA started issuing notices to several companies for over-charging. The recent list included overcharging for 200 drugs, marketed by a number of leading drug firms. 

The industry body feels NPPA records are erroneous on account of considering non-scheduled formulations, discontinued products or comparison of prices with wrong strength or pack.  NPPA’s mandate is to fix prices of drugs that are part of Schedule 1 of the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) 2013. It also monitors the price of non-scheduled drugs. Drug makers are not allowed to increase the prices of these formulations by more than 10 per cent annually. 

In its recent notices, NPPA stated that drug makers were selling Fixed Dose Combinations without the drug safety regulator’s approval. Also, that cases of overcharging have been exceedingly high.  

Earlier, too, IPA has accused NPPA of going overboard with price fixation.