The 16-member draft drug policy review committee constituted by the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers is planning to have its third meeting in Mumbai on September 20. The committee, which met here on September 4, deliberated on the five key points and decided to have a better understanding on the issues during the next meeting.

According to sources, the representatives from the small-scale pharmaceutical sector wanted several changes, including purchase preference for SMEs for public drug procurement in the policy. The industry sources informed that the interaction is meant to help various stakeholders come out with a comprehensive view on the policy.

The Chemical Ministry announced the inclusion of two more official representatives into the review committee last week. 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.