Overpriced med devices: Govt asks cos to submit MRP details

Amidst reports of rising prices of medical devices including stents, the Government has asked the companies to review their pricing and submit maximum retail price (MRP) details of their products to drug price regulator NPPA.
So far, three meetings have taken place between senior officials of Department of Pharmaceuticals, NPPA, Ministry of Health, medical device companies and industry bodies over the issue of unreasonably high prices of stents and other medical devices.
"There have been cases where companies are selling imported stents for at least 3-4 times of its actual landed cost in India, so this is not justified, the companies need to review their pricing", a senior official told PTI.

It has been conveyed to the companies that the Government can take remedial measures to make the pricing of medical devices reasonable, he added.
"Reports have been received by the government claiming that stent selling companies give huge commissions to hospitals and doctors and that is also one of the reasons they are overpriced", the official added.
The medical devices companies have also been asked to submit the MRP details of stents and other devices to National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA).

The Government is committed to growth of the industry and "we are working on removing duty anomalies to boost the medical devices manufacturing sector", the official said.

"The malpractice of arbitrary MRP labelling is widely prevalent and the situation is serious enough to warrant immediate government intervention to rectify the situation", Association of Indian Medical Device Manufacturers Forum Coordinator Rajiv Nath said.
The Government has a duty to ensure that there is a level playing field between domestically produced medical goods and the imported ones, he added.
Currently, the medical devices industry in India is estimated to be USD 5 billion annually.
The Government is also working to boost medical devices manufacturing sector and make it a USD 50 billion industry in the next five years.