Kochi: With casesc of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes increasing alarmingly, the Centre is mulling to slash prices of medicines for these diseases drastically.
The centre is likely to announce the decision on August 15. There are a few proposals before the government in this regard. The high cost of drugs for some diseases is worrying the government, media reports said.
The prices may fall as much as 70 per cent. Revision of the National List of Essential Medicine (NLEM), 2015, is also before the consideration of the government which is aiming to cap high trade margins.Trade margins of some drugs were as high as 1,000 per cent.
The drug price regulator National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)
present caps prices of over 355 drugs that are part of NLEM. The margin for wholesalers for such drugs is 8 percent and 16 percent for retailers.
All the manufacturers of these drugs are required to sell their product equal to or lower than the ceiling price.
Companies have the freedom to fix the price for all other medicines that are outside the government’s direct price control.
