Prices Of Diabetes, Heart & Kidney Drugs Could Be Slashed

Drug price watchdog National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has been working on the plan for the past several months.

In 2018-19, the NPPA had put a cap on trade margins of 42 select non-scheduled anti-cancer medicines. Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya had said in the Lok Sabha that the move resulted in the reduction of up to 90% of the MRP of 526 brands of these medicines.

This time, the source said, NPPA has conducted a study and the rationalisation will be based on the inputs from the same.

According to the study on TMR analysis conducted by NPPA, a trader’s margin moves higher with the price of a tablet.

It found that, for instance, if a tablet is priced up to Rs 2, in the majority of the brands, the margin is up to 50%; whereas if its cost is between Rs 15 and Rs 25, the margin is less than 40%.

At least 2.97% of the medicines in the Rs 50-100 per tablet category have trade margins between 50% and 100%, 1.25% in the category have margins between 100% and 200%, and 2.41% have margins between 200% and 500%.

As per NPPA’s presentation, in the case of medicines priced above Rs 100 per tablet, considered the costliest category, 8% have margins around 200% to 500%, 2.7% have margins around 500-1000%, and 1.48% have more than 1000% margins.