Eased NPPA drug approvals to inject growth into sector

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority’s (NPPA’s) move to ease the approval process for new drugs will increase competition and benefit customers.

The domestic pharmaceutical market is valued at over Rs 1 lakh crore and between April-November, sales growth has been a modest 4.6 per cent, owing to goods and services tax implementation-related issues.

The change in norms — which comes in the backdrop of a six-month tussle between the industry and the regulator — is also expected to aid growth. “Growth has been impacted as the NPPA was not giving product approvals. The easing of norms should improve growth and benefit customers,