All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN), the national network of organizations working on pharmaceutical policy has decided to pressurize the government to speed up its response to the Supreme Court on the pharmaceutical policy petition. The NGO, a party to the pending case, is to decide the future course of action within a month. AIDAN may approach the SC seeking a deadline for the government to respond to the SC directive to bring all drugs figured in National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) under price control, it is learnt.
According to Dr Anurag Bhargava, the delay in following the SC directive to bring all NLEM drugs can only serve the interests of the pharmaceutical industry and not the consumer.
The AIDAN petition seeks the inclusion of all NLEM drugs under price control and formulation of a system to monitor all drugs, including those out of NLEM list for its availability and affordability. It wants only safe and rational drugs and formulations with scientifically proven efficacy to be permitted to be marketed and manufactured in India.
The petition also argues for constitution of National Drug Authority, compliance of GMP and GLP norms, and a decision to allow only cheap generic drugs to be marketed for important public health needs like tuberculosis, malaria, leprosy, diabetes, hypertension, heart care, eye care etc. The other prayer of AIDAN is to make available comprehensive information about comparative prices of medicines and total treatment regime in public domain.
Increase in healthcare budgetary allowances, provisions for compulsory licensing and parallel imports (in case of public health emergency) and linking marketing approval to the cost effectiveness, affordability and India specific need of a drug are the other prayers made by AIDAN in the Supreme Court.