HC junks AIDAN plea to intervene in drug price cap matter

The Delhi High Court today refused to allow an NGO to intervene in a plea challenging National Pharma Pricing Authority's (NPPA) July 10 notification bringing over a 100 medicines underprice control.
"You are neither an interested party nor an affected party," Justice Vibhu Bakhru said and dismissed the application of All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN) which was seeking to intervene in the petition filed by an organisation of drug manufacturers opposing NPPA's notification.
The Organisation of Pharma Producers of India's (OPPI) has challenged NPPA's notification putting a cap on the prices of drugs which do not fall under the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM).

AIDAN, which is opposed to OPPI's plea, has said in its intervention application filed through advocate Divya Jyoti Jaipuriar that it had in 2003 moved a plea in the Supreme Court seeking that even the drugs not in NLEM ought to be brought within the pricing regime.
The matter is still pending before the apex court, AIDAN said.
NPPA had on July 10 brought prices of over 100 non-scheduled drugs under price control as per paragraph 19 of Drug Prices Control Order (DPCO).

Paragraph 19 of DPCO, 2013, authorises the NPPA in extraordinary circumstances, if it considers necessary so to do in public interest, to fix the ceiling price or retail price of any drug for such period as it deems fit.

On the last date of hearing, OPPI had argued that NPPA has not cited what are the extraordinary circumstances.
It had also said that as per the government's drug policy regime, prices of non-scheduled drugs are to be monitored, not fixed.
While bringing these drugs under price control, the NPPA has noted that it is of the considered view that there exists huge inter-brand price differences in branded-generics/off patent drugs, which is indicative of a severe market failure.