All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN) has come out with a comparative list of select medicines included in the 886-drug list to prove that the price reduction was just eyewash. According to the list, 10 tablets of Cetrizine 10mg is still costing Rs 10.68 (Citimed, Cadilla) while the leading brand (ceticad) of the same company Cadilla is costing Rs 23.96. The prices at which the drug is supplied to government procurement agencies in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat are just Rs 0.53. The NGO manufacturer LOCOST is supplying the same drug for Rs 2.25, AIDAN list revealed.
AIDAN figures suggest that drug prices of lesser known and lesser promoted brands, constituting less than 10 per cent of the market whose trade margins have been highlighted, should not divert the attention from the overpriced nature of the drugs which do sell the most in the market. Drugs are overpriced many times over in relation to the cost of manufacture, they point out.
"According to this price reduction, Cadila Healthcare is offering a lower priced ciprofloxacin, Gercip at Rs 5.73 per tablet, while in the market, a brand like Zoxan of FDC already exists which costs. Rs 3.90 per tablet, but which sells less than the market leader Cifran that sells at Rs 9.0 per tablet. The fact that Ranbaxy can reduce the price of one of its lesser selling preparations like Ceflor (Ceftazidime) from Rs 309 to Rs 185 while the leading brand for this drug like GSK's ceftazidime (Fortum) can continue to sell at nearly Rs 350 per vial indicates the extent of overpricing. Does this not call for a drastic reduction in the price of Cifran or Fortum?" They ask.
The activists feel that there is no price reduction in reality but merely a decrease in profiteering from a level, which was absurd to a level, which is astronomical.
"Two years ago, the NPPA conducted a study on 3 commonly used drugs including Cetrizine. It found that Ranbaxy was selling 10 tablets of Cetrizine to the retailer at Rs 1.80 (i.e. at 18 paise per tablet) while the MRP was nearly Rs 26. Now with the so-called generous reduction in prices, and with the proposed 35 per cent trade margins to be given to the retailer, one would expect Cetrizine to be priced at up to Rs 3 for 10 tablets. Yet the prices mentioned in the list for Cetrizine are Stanhist (Ranbaxy) - Rs 12.79, Cetcip (Cipla) - 25.00, Cetimax (Cadila Healthcare) 12.84, Sertride (Wockhardt) - 21.1 and Cetirid (Cadila Healthcare) - Rs 16.12.
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