The All India Chemists and Distributors Federation (AICDF) has raised its protest against the Department of Pharmaceuticals' prestigious generic drug store project, Jan Aushadhi, alleging that the move will affect the unorganised chemists badly.

The federation alleged that the project to sell unbranded generic drugs at low prices through the Jan Aushadhi stores will make a negative impression about the chemists who are selling branded products from major manufacturers at much higher prices. The sources felt that there could be the issue of quality of generic products being sold through the stores as 85 to 90 per cent of the substandard drugs listed by the state drug regulators in the recent past belonged to generic products.

"The branded products usually will have an assurance on quality or an additional benefit like new delivery method than the generic products manufactured by an unknown company. Obviously, the price of branded product would be higher than these products and the consumer, who is unaware about the difference, will have confusion on our acts," said Prem Ranka, general secretary, AICDF.

The list of substandard drugs show that most of the generic drugs has insufficient quantity of ingredients, which makes them inferior in quality, he added. The margin for branded products is fixed by the government at 16 per cent of the manufacturing price minus excise duty while there is no fixed margin for generic products, as such.

Lately, AICDF has submitted a representation to the government of Rajasthan, where the first Jan Aushadhi store was launched, to take measures to save the unorganised chemists. In a representation, the federation emphasised that the government should bring adequate margin for generics to the extend of 30 per cent for retailer and 15 per cent for the wholesaler.

The price difference between the branded and generic products of the same drug from one manufacturer and the varied prices for combination drugs will create some confusion to the layman. The difference in the strength of ingredients used in a medicine will reflect in the drug prices, though the consumer may not notice the difference.

"Without knowing these details, the consumer will conclude that the local chemist is exploiting them when the government stores supply the same medicine in low cost. This will definitely affect our business," said Ranka. The affiliate of AICDF in Rajasthan is following up the status of the suggestions with the state government.

The federation is planning to disseminate awareness of the issue among its state affiliates and will put similar demands forward to all the state governments which have set up Jan Aushadhi stores.

The Jan Aushadi campaign is offering drugs with a huge price difference when compared to the market price of unbranded generics. Pack of ten ciprofloxacin tablets (250mg) is sold at Rs 10.40 in the outlet against Rs 55 in the market. Likewise, ciprofloxacin (500 mg) pack of 10 tablets will be available at Rs 20.10 against the market price of Rs 97. Nimesulide tablet (100 mg) pack of 10 will be sold at Rs 2.50 in the stores against the market price of Rs 25, according to announcements from Department of Pharmaceuticals.