NPPA slashes drug prices by 2.84%, asks cos to follow

Drug price regulator National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has cut prices of all scheduled drugs by 2.84 per cent on account of reduction in Cenvat and asked manufacturers to follow the suit.

"The reduction in the equivalent maximum retail prices shall take effect immediately," NPPA said in a statement.

All manufacturers are required to reduce the equivalent maximum retail prices (inclusive of excise duty and all taxes) by 2.84 per cent, it added.

However, the regulator made it clear that the reduction in prices would not apply on drugs produced by manufacturing units in excise-free zones such as Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

 

"Therefore no excise duty shall be chargeable in the MRP of these scheduled formulation packs," it said.

Scheduled formulations are those medicines whose prices are fixed by the government.