Pharma Industry Demands Stable Drug Pricing

6 Aug 2024 , 01:13 PM

The Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI), which represents prominent multinational pharmaceutical companies, has requested that the government implement a “predictable” drug pricing policy and refrain from using Paragraph 19 of the Drug Pricing Control Order (DPCO), which allows the regulator to significantly reduce prices in the public interest for as long as it sees fit.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, India’s drug pricing regulator, had previously invoked Paragraph 19 of the DPCO to reduce the cost of cardiac stents and knee implants.

“Pricing policies should be predictable. There should be no changes to the price policy, as was done by referring to Para 19 of DPCO 2013, 2014, and 2019,” it stated in a presentation to the Department of Pharmaceutical (DoP).

The DoP has been hosting stakeholder discussions to examine drug and medical device pricing adjustments.

Previously, the medication pricing regulator decreased the prices of stents and orthopaedic knee implants by 87% under Paragraph 19 of the Drugs Prices Control Order 2013, which has now been extended.

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