Inability of the government to bring an effective control on drug prices has been an issue debated for long by the various public interest groups in the country. Although a regime of price control on essential drugs has been in existence under the Union ministry of chemicals for more than 30 years, prices of most of the widely prescribed drugs continue to be beyond the reach of common man. Drug prices which are under the DPCO and outside it are expected to be administered by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority on a regular basis. But, the experience of last several years shows that prices fixed by the NPPA are often violated or circumvented by the companies. Ineffectiveness of the price control regime has thus given rise to a chaotic situation in the case of several life saving drugs. Huge price differences exist amongst various brands of the same drug marketed by different companies. A recent compilation of such price variations for same products by All-India Drug Action Network, a campaign group for rational drug therapy, is rather shocking. The price difference between the lowest priced and the highest priced brands of the same medicine goes as much as 2000 per cent as per its findings. Usually high priced drugs are the ones marketed by large companies and physicians are motivated to prescribe them in metros and big towns. This creates a situation where patients are forced to buy expensive brands when cheaper substitutes of the same drug are available in the market.
Ineffectiveness in drug price control regime has been bothering the officials for some time. Now, they are of the view that a proper coordination between the Drug Controller General of India’s office and NPPA could bring some meaningful change in this regard. At present, NPPA has no idea about a new drug’s costs and prices for several months after it is granted the marketing approval by DCGI. Usually introductory price of a new drug is very high as compared to existing products. And in many cases, once a new drug is brought under price control, the companies add another ingredient to take it outside price control. Such a change may not be therapeutically rational but is not often known to the office of DCGI. In a situation like this, developing a system whereby DCGI and NPPA interacting each other about the marketing approval of a new drug and any changes in formulation could alert both the offices about its price and safety. It is interesting to note that an inter-ministerial coordination committee has been set up a couple of months back for better coordination of these two key government offices to ensure availability of essential drugs at affordable prices. Such a functional linkage between these two offices and effective communication between the officials should bring some sanity in the administration of drug prices at least in future.