Till May 2018, govt imposed Rs 60 bn fine on drug firms for overcharging

In a separate reply, minister of state for chemicals and fertilisers said exports of generic drugs in 2017-18 stood at $12.9 billion

 

Government has recovered Rs 8.3 billion as fine from pharmaceutical companies for overcharging till May 2018, Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

 

Since the inception of National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) till May this year, 1,794 demand notices were issued to drug companies for overcharging patients, Union Minister Mansukh L Mandaviya said in a written reply to the House.

"Demand notices have been issued for a total amount of Rs 60.58 billion. Amount to the tune of Rs 8.29 billion has been recovered from the companies...in overcharging cases," he added.

In a separate reply, the minister of state for chemicals and fertilisers said exports of generic drugs in 2017-18 stood at $12.9 billion. The global generic market in the same period stood at $302 billion.

The total pharma exports including bulk drugs, formulations, herbal products and surgicals stood at $17.27 billion in 2017-18, Mandaviya said.

He said the government is taking a lot of steps to encourage use of generic drugs in the domestic market.

"The use of unbranded generics is on the rise in the country and it is now estimated at 7 per cent of the domestic market share," he said.

In another reply, he said the government had constituted an inter-ministerial committee on November 7, 2013 to suggest ways and means to fix the prices of patented drugs in the country.