1. Home
2. Letters

Even WHO finds essential drugs in India priced much higher than manufacturing cost

Kashmir Times. Dated: 4/18/2019 1:44:19 PM

Dear Editor,
World Health Organization WHO has also established that even essential drugs in India with lowest printed Maximum-Retail-Price MRP are exorbitantly priced over manufacturing-cost followed by abnormally high trade-margin between ex-factory price and MRP.
National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority NPPA is considering capping of profit-margins of 73 more drugs but leaving out many more again. It is beyond understanding why and how NPPA does not have a profit-formula uniformly for all drugs at a time when even generic medicines considered to be a cheaper version of respective branded medicines have exorbitant trade-margins of several hundred percent. Competition Commission of India CCI and Central Information Commission CIC have taken cognizance of serious issue. There are many medicines where different drug-manufacturers take undue advantage of their brand-popularity with prices of same medicine differing several times according to brand-popularity thus establishing extra-ordinary high profit-margins of even drug-manufacturers.
NPPA should fix maximum profit and trade margins over manufacturing cost for all medicines rather than differentiating by having various categories of medicines where price-regulation is applicable only for some limited drugs. Price-revision of any medicines must be allowed only once in a year say on First January only unless approved as special case by NPPA. Gimmick packaging other than in units of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 gms, mltrs or units must not be allowed unless approved by NPPA for dose-wise administration. Rule should be to emboss or print name of medicine in a manner that name is there on every capsule or tablet thus ruling out possibility of wastage of drug in case name-portion of strip is consumed.
—Madhu Agrawal,
1775 Kucha Lattushah
Dariba, Chandni Chowk Delhi.