Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Sharad Pawar, Union Agriculture minister, has invited only Confederation of Indian Industries for its long delayed second meeting for finalizing the new drug policy. GOM has, surprisingly, chosen to ignore all the pharma industry associations for the crucial meeting.
The first meeting of the GOM consisting of seven members was held on April 10 this year.
However, still clinging to the hopes, some leading pharma associations looked confident that they would be invited for the crucial meeting. It may bring some consolation to the associations as CII is holding somewhat the same view points on pharma policy as in the case of associations.
Ajay Piramal, chairman of CII National Committee on Drugs and Pharmaceuticals and the chairman of leading pharma group Nicholas Piramal India Ltd will be attending the meeting, a CII spokesman confirmed.
It is hence expected that Piramal, who himself is chairman of a leading Indian pharma company, will be able to present industry's stand quite well at the meeting. He will be presenting the views of the CII but the entire industry is against the rationale of bringing more drugs under the scanner of price control, it is learnt.
"We are yet to get any invitation so far. But we hope that we will be invited in time. We are planning to go to the meeting otherwise also, so that we can meet the members of the panel and push our views,'' a spokesman of the IDMA said.
Still, many are of the view that the pharma industry was given a raw deal, by robbing off their precious chance to present the case perhaps for the last time. After the chemicals ministry pushed through the draft before waiting for the views of the industry or without a consensus and stuck to the control of prices of 354 drugs, the industry was hoping for a better deal from the GoM, sources said.
On the other hand, it is learnt that the chemicals ministry is still adamant on its stand of bringing 354 drugs under the price control mechanism and wants to see the policy out at the earliest without causing further delays.
The spokesmen of the OPPI and other pharma associations including the small scale sector also disclosed that they were yet to get any formal invitation for the meeting. Likewise, no public interest group also finds a place, though Pawar had earlier indicated taking their views too.
Though the GoM, after its first meeting, decided to invite the representatives from the pharma industry and the public interest groups, the second meeting is happening after five months and after lots of pressure from the chemicals minister. Hence the pharma associations were being excluded to avoid further delay. Thought it may bring cheers to Chemicals Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on his one-upmanship game, it means that the hard-pressed industry is losing out on its bargain.