The 14-member draft drug policy review committee constituted by the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers is to hold its final meeting on November 25. The highlight of the meeting is known to be the proposed plan to recommend the exclusion of all drugs that costs less than Rs 3 for a day's dose from the ambit of cost based price control. The recommendation of the committee is to reach the ministry by November 30.
According to sources, the ministry may agree for the suggestions that are likely to come from the committee, mostly represented by the industry. The recommendations would be analyzed for possible changes and forwarded to the cabinet for approval.
As reported earlier, the report is likely to take into consideration the industry sentiments related to bringing all NLEM drugs under price control and may suggest long term and short term strategies to bring down the prices of all essential medicines.
Revamping of National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) in the lines of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is likely to be another suggestion.
The industry would also want the government to consider exports and R&D investments, while fixing prices of drugs, instead of the current practice of considering only the manufacturing costs and marketing expenses.
The industry has also conveyed to the Government that they are keen to supply drugs at subsidized prices to the public sector, provided the Government establishes an efficient drug procurement mechanism in all the States as part of the long term strategies.
The core issues before the committee include suggestions for an alternative to the current plan to include all NLEM drugs under price control, examining the legal interpretation of the supreme court ruling on inclusion of all NLEM drugs under price control, the role of industry in containing drug prices, replacement of the existing cost based price control model for price monitoring, public-private partnership model for supply of medicines to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families and concessional drug procurement by Government institutions.