During April, the first month of the current fiscal year, no cases of overcharging has come to the notice of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), even the agency managed to recover about Rs. 8 crore from the outstanding arrears.
According to the latest list of defaulters, the total number of violations stood at 1018 since its inception for a total amount of Rs. 3382.69 crore. However, the total recovery rose to Rs. 282.73 crore, after it managed to collect Rs. 8.30 crore during April.
The price regulator sent notices in 89 cases to recover an amount of Rs. 384.51 crore during the last financial year while 103 cases were noted for an amount of Rs. 128.52 crore during the financial year of 2012-13. The agency was able to recover Rs. 40.06 crore during the last fiscal, which was a big improvement on Rs. 14.97 crore collected during 2012-13, according to the latest list of arrears. After 2008-09, last year recorded the highest collection.
Continuing the same trend for years, Cipla stayed on as the biggest defaulter accounting for more than half of the total arrears due from the entire industry. Most of the cases were dragged to the courts by the company, thus delaying the payments. The list also has all major companies like Cadila, Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy’s Lab, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Sun Pharma, Nicholas Piramal, IPCA Lab, and Merck.
Based on the new Drugs Price Control Order (DPCO) 2013, the agency sent notices only in two cases, both against Dr Reddy’s Labs. In the case of Atocor 5mg and 10mg, the notices were sent and the company has already paid the difference amount of Rs. 0.08 crore, as per the statement.
The companies which were served notices on the grounds of overcharging during the last financial year included Rexcin Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Indu Formulations, Okasa Pharma, Helios Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi India, Sumages Pharma, Valence Healthcare, Gurufcure Re-xite, Cipla, Priyal Pharma, Themis Medicare, Alembic, Wings Pharmaceuticals, Rx Healthcare/Akum Drugs, Gufic Biosciences, Gmbell Healthcare/Universal Lifesciences, Softech Pharma, Torque Pharmaceuticals, Cadila Healthcare Ltd./German Remedies, Mars Therapheuticas/Dr. Reddy, Mars Therapheuticas, M J Pharma, Shreya Lifesciences, and Baxter India, among others.