MNCs and some large Indian drug companies are charging exorbitant prices for many of the new drugs being introduced in the Indian market of late. Most of these products are life saving and essential drugs used for treating chronic cancer, stroke, various infections and cardiovascular diseases.

As new drugs are outside the price control, the government is just a mute spectator to this profiteering by these leading drug companies. Pharmaceutical companies are able to indulge in this unfair trade practice with the active support of the trade that get a substantial retail margin when compared to low value drugs, informed sources said.

Medical practitioners are too willing to oblige the companies by prescribing these costly products as they are also suitably compensated. For most of these expensive products cheaper substitutes are already available in the market.

After last DPCO, which was notified in 1995, DCGI has allowed more than 100 new drugs to be marketed in the country. Many of them are life saving preparations and are being introduced for the first time by the MNCs through imports.

The most recent case is that of launch of a vaccine last week. Wyeth launched its world's first seven-valent pneumococcal paediatric vaccine in the Indian market with a price tag of above Rs 3,750 plus taxes per dose.

Roche had launched its lung cancer drug Tarceva (erlotinib) in India during April, this year. A three month treatment regime with Tarceva costs about Rs 3,30,000, which is unaffordable for most of the Indian lung cancer patients. Treatment with Roche's Pegasys, a new generation hepatitis drug, which received the first product patent in the new Indian patent regime, is also priced exorbitantly high. A 24-week treatment therapy with the drug is estimated to cost more than Rs 2.5 lakhs.

Pfizer launched its Lyrica, a breakthrough drug for the management of naturopathic pain in India in the new patent regime. The company introduced 150 mg and 75 mg capsules in India at Rs 1,108 a strip of 14 and Rs 739 for a strip of 14, respectively. Similarly, while Pfizer India's Amoldipine 5 mg tablet Amlogard is priced Rs.6 per tablet, Zydus Cadila's Amoldac costs just Rs.1.5 per tablet. Pfizer's Amolgard is more than 300 percent expensive than Amoldac.

Pfizer had introduced its mega-blockbuster Viagra in the Indian market during December last year with a price of Rs.463 plus local taxes for a 50 mg tablet. Its dozen odd Indian generic versions are available between Rs.25-Rs.35 per tablet in the Indian market.

The case of Clopidogrel, a blood-thinning agent of sanofi- aventis is another case of high profiteering. While sanofi -aventis sells its 75 mg Plavix brand for Rs.1530 for 10 tablets, the same drug is available from Zydus Cadila as Noklot, for just Rs.78.25. The price difference is about 1850 percent, as per a recent comparative trade data published in a leading medical journal.

Similarly, Aventis's quinolone antibiotic Tavanic, with active ingredient levofloxacin, is sold at Rs.950 per ten tablets. Its price is about 1290 per cent more than Cipla's generic brand Levoflox, which is being sold in the Indian market for just Rs.68.25.

Aventis' another essential drug, Actonel, the Risedronate 35 mg tablet for osteoporosis treatment, is sold at a price of Rs.2000 for four tablets. Cipla sells its generic version Risofos in the Indian market for just Rs.200 for four tablets.

Sanofi-Aventis's Leflunomide brand Arava, an anti-inflammatory drug used to treat the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, is sold in the Indian market for a price of Rs.440 per ten tablets. Its generic drug from Zydus Cadila, Rumalef, costs just Rs.80 per ten tablets.

While Aventis sells its type II (noninsulin-dependent) diabetes drug Amaryl (glimepiride) for Rs 55.76 for 10 tablets, the same glimepiride in generic form is sold by Zydus Cadila as Euglim brand with a price of about Rs.10 per ten tablets. French multinational Serdia's Diamicron (gliclazide), another Type II diabetic drug, costs Rs.63.64 for ten tablets in the Indian market. Jagson Pal sells the same as Lycazid with a price of Rs.31 per ten tablets.

Similarly, Novartis sells its blockbuster Letrozole brand Femara, 2.5 mg 10 tablet pack for Rs.1815 in India, about 1730 percent more than the generic Oncolet brand of Biochem, sold at Rs.99 per ten tablets. Novartis sells its high blood pressure drug Diovan 80 mg (valsartan) in the Indian market with a price of Rs.410 per ten tablets. Ranbaxy's same drug Starval costs just Rs.69 per ten tablets.

Abbott's anti-epileptic drug Eption (phenytoin) 100 mg costs Rs.14.50 per ten tablets. The same is available in the Indian market and one of the most popular versions, Epsolin from Zydus Cadila, costs less than Rs.8.50.

Sources also cite that Natco Pharma recently launched its osteoporosis drug Ibandronate sodium in India with a price of Rs.2,500 per 6 mg injection and at Rs.49 per 50 mg per tablet. Its imported versions like Roche's Boniva costs more than Rs.13, 500 per injection and Rs.600 per tablet.