Drug prices may come down sharply in the coming days
Posted on: 20/Jan/2016 10:35:00 AM
Government is likely to cap the trading margin on medicines at 35 per cent and because of this drug prices may come down sharply in the coming days
A senior government official told that chemists and wholesalers are charging margins as high as 2,000-3,000 per cent in some medicines. Therefore, there is a huge difference between the costing of medicine to retailer and its selling price. It needs to be checked.
A total of 680 medicines are under the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) under the scheduled category of DPCO, 2013. The NPPA has already fixed the ceiling prices in respect of 530 medicines.
Out of these 530 scheduled formulations, the price reduction was above 40 per cent in 126 drugs compared with the highest prevailing price prior to announcement of DPCO.
Above 40 per cent reduction in prices of non-scheduled medicines was also effected for 19 formulations with respect to highest prevailing MRP prior to price capping.
