NPPA order may not impact much, seeking legal advice: Reddy's

Drug pricing regulator has fixed the price of 108 non-scheduled formulation packs of 50 anti-diabetes and cardiac medicines

The recent National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) order bringing in some more medicines under control may not have much impact on city-based drug maker Dr Reddy's Laboratories in terms of product pricing, according to a senior company official.

The company is assessing the impact and in touch with legal professionals seeking advice, the official said.

"This (the NPPA's order) has come a little bit out of blue. We are trying to see whether it needs any action. For us it will be less material. The exposure to those products is lower and our work is in progress from impact assessment perspective. We have not been hit in a significant manner. We are still talking to the lawyers what to do," the official told PTI.

In a move that is likely to bring down prices of some of the key medicines, drug pricing regulator NPPA has fixed the price of 108 non-scheduled formulation packs of 50 anti-diabetes and cardiac medicines.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has fixed the prices of anti-diabetic & cardiovascular in respect of 108 non-scheduled formulation packs under Paragraph 19 of DPCO, 2013, NPPA said in a notification.

The drugs that will become cheaper would include atorvastatin, gliclazide, glimepiride, heparin and metolazone among others.

The drug maker is exploring options with other players whether it would be worth putting up litigation, the official further said.

"The government is quite within its rights when they invoked paragraph 19. So just because India has more diabetic patients that does not mean they can invoke anything," he opined.

Alok Sonig, Senior Vice President and India Business Head (Generics), had earlier said the earlier Drug Price Control order would impact the revenues of 15 to 20 drugs due to price erosion which will lead to a overall impact of 5% on Indian revenues.

On May 15, 2013, the Department of Pharmaceuticals released Drugs (Price Control) Order, governing the price control mechanism for 348 drugs listed in the National List of Essential Medicines. As per this order, the prices of each of the drugs are determined based on the average of all drugs having an Indian market share of more than 1% by value.