Stents

While foreign players have either withdrawn or shied away from introducing new-generation stents in India post price cap, Indian firms have gone ahead

While multinational Abbott remains the market leader, Indian players have also established a toe-hold; only the middleman and the patient in corporate hospitals have been hit

NPPA had asked MNCs to prove superiority of their stents if they wished for a better price

At a time when marquee American stent makers plan to withdraw their most advanced coronary stents from the market following the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority's move to cap their price, cheaper Chinese and Malaysian rivals are pushing their products aggressively. This may lead to grey market for some of the most sought after stents that would not be officially available in the market now, fear some.Bejon Misra, founder, Consumer Online Foundation says, "Price capping only leads to a grey- market. Doctors will smuggle stents into the market and then tell the patient that they have a US-FDA approved stent but quote a higher price for it. " "Instead of billing it as a stent, they will put the additional charge as part of other expenses," he says.The NPPA on February 13 capped the prices of bare metal stents at Rs 7,260 and those of drug eluting stents, used in about 90 per cent of angioplasty procedures, at Rs 29,600. The more advanced biodegradable stents introduced in India .

Government took action after receiving reports of shortage of stents in the market and hospitals

Regulator received 30 complaints of overcharging; probe in these cases underway

Stent manufacturers say keeping an eye only on them and distributors might not help

Prices of coronary stents were slashed by up to 85% last week following complaints of overcharghing

NPPA fixed the prices of stents on February 14 using its emergency powers