Roche Scientific Company (I) Ltd (RSCPL) or Roche India will not reduce prices of its products in India proportional to recently announced duty cuts by the Union government.
The central government has reduced the customs duty on specified life saving bulk drugs, formulations and medical equipments to 5 per cent. These items are also being exempted from countervailing duty (CVD) by way of excise duty exemption. The cut has taken effect from January 9.
"We have resorted to price cut in our products as and when the union government has made positive budgetary moves. We have only a few products that match the current list of specified drugs from the government. However, as of now we have no plans to reduce the prices of these drugs," said Sangita Topiwala, head, Planning and Development, RSCPL. There are only three drugs in Roche's basket, for which duty cuts were announced.
In October, Roche announced a 25 per cent price cut on its products, which included Xeloda, Mabthera, and Cellcept. Xeloda, which used to cost Rs.30,000 per batch, will now cost Rs.18,000. Mabthera price has been reduced to Rs.80,000 from the earlier Rs.95,000. Cellcept is priced at Rs.83 per tablet compared to an earlier price of Rs.70. These drugs belong to fields like oncology, virology, and transplantation.