The 16-member draft drug policy review committee constituted by the Ministry of Chemcials and Fertilizers has decided to pass on the onus of interpreting the legal implication of the Supreme Court verdict on the inclusion of all 300 odd drugs from the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) to the Law Ministry. The committee will continue to deliberate on the other key issues.

In its recent meeting, the committee had stressed the need for a clear definition of generic-generic and branded generic drugs. The industry representatives in the committee have been asked come out with their suggestions.

According to sources, the committee also discussed about the possible ways to adopt government hospitals and ensure free medicines for BPL families. Sale of medicines to hospitals at concessional rates, using post offices as possible distribution centres, etc were some of the other points discussed. The committee has asked the industry to come out with concrete proposals to turn this operational.

The committee is represented by industry associations and trade promotion bodies like Indian Drugs Manufacturers Association (IDMA), Organisation of Pharmaceutical producers of India (OPPI), Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA), Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil), Confederation of Indian Pharmaceutical Industries (CIPI-ssi) and FICCI.

The core issues before the committee include suggestions for an alternative to the current plan to include all NLEM drugs under price control, examining the legal interpretation of the Supreme Court ruling on inclusion of all NLEM drugs under price control, the role of industry in containing drug prices, replacement of the existing cost based price control model for price monitoring, public-private partnership model for supply of medicines to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families and concessional drug procurement by Government institutions.

The third meeting of the committee is scheduled on September 20.