Submit weekly production report: Govt to stent makers

Order prompted by paucity of supply; weekly reports to be given to price and drug safety regulators

Cracking the whip on stent manufacturers, the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) on Tuesday asked them to provide weekly reports on the production and distribution of the medical device.

The reports have to be submitted, for six months, to the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization, the drug safety regulator. The notification was issued after DoP got a number of complaints on shortage of stents.

NPPA, the top body that fixes prices of drugs, had on February 13 fixed the price of stents — a spring-like metal tube used to open blocked arteries — at