Government may change price approval method for new drugs

The government on Friday said that it is considering a change in the price approval method for new medicines.

The development assumes significance as the current practice causes considerable time delays in the launch of new drugs by manufacturers.

According to the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, it is in consultation with the industry to explore "doing away with the present practice" of deciding a new price for each applicant of "new drug".

"The government is in consultation with the industry to explore doing away with the present practice of deciding a new price for each applicant of "new drug", which is causing considerable time delay in launch of the new drugs in the market by the manufacturers," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also clarified that it is not considering any proposal to change the "methodology of calculating ceiling prices of scheduled medicines".

As per the provisions of DPCO (Drug Price Control Order), prices of those medicines are fixed by the government which are in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM).

Currently, NLEM has about 850 drugs against more than 6,000 medicines available in the market of various strengths and dosages.

--IANS

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