Almost all the known pharma companies in the country continue to violate price control norms and recovery of overcharged amounts from them continue to be very slow over the years as per the latest data with the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA).

NPPA has published a list of 471 companies who have violated the norms on yearly price increase so far. And almost all the leading firms appear in the list, indicating that overcharging continued to be so rampant despite all the efforts by the government and criticism by public interest groups.

NPPA has sent notices in around 660 cases so far after its inception, for recovering around Rs 2003 crore. It could recover only about Rs 164 crore so far from the defaulters, leaving the rest of the amount as pending because of litigations. During the last three years, it could collect just about Rs 57 crore from the defaulters, according to the latest statistics. During 2006-07, the agency sent notices in 67 cases for the amount of Rs 38.01 crore, but it could finally recover only Rs 0.96 crore.

The scrutiny of cases increased during 2007-08 and 118 notices were sent for Rs 820.31 crore, but the recovery stood at just 4.51 crore. During the last financial year, the recovery picked up better at Rs 51.41 crore, against a total due of Rs 435.62 crore in 135 cases. Till the end of June this year, the agency sent 22 notices for Rs 21.39 crore and it could recover Rs 7.54 crore.

"We have tightened the scrutiny of cases and are following up each case keenly. The recovery is also picking up now. With most of the cases under litigation, it is not easy to recover the entire amount. But we have initiated a number of steps to follow-up the court cases and many cases have been referred to district magistrates for attachment of assets from the defaulters," sources in the NPPA said.

Meanwhile, the list of companies penalized for selling medicines at higher prices so far included all the known names in the pharma spectrum. The list of 471 companies includes Akums, Alkem Labs Ltd, Alpa Labs Ltd, Alpine Laboratories, Alpine Pharmaceuticals, Arco Pharma Pvt Ltd, Arihant Siddhaa Labs Ltd, Aurobindo Pharma Ltd, Aventis Pharma Pvt Ltd, Avis Life Sciences/Morepen, Baxter India Pvt Ltd, Bayer Pharmaceutical Pvt Ltd, BSP Pharma Ltd, Cadila Healthcare Ltd. Cadila P Ltd, Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Centaur Pharmaceuticals (P) Ltd, Centurion Labs Ltd, Cipla Ltd, Dr Reddy Lab, Elder Pharmaceuticals, Eli-Lilly, Glaxo SmithKline Pvt.Ltd, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Glindia Ltd, Himalaya Meditek Private Ltd, Ind Swift Ltd, Indian Immunologiclas Ltd, Indo Remidex (P) Ltd, Intas Pharma Ltd, IPCA Lab. Limited, Johnson & Johnson Ltd, Johnson & Smith, Lupin Ltd, Manish Pharma Lab, Mankind Pharma, Merck, Mercury Labs. Ltd. Mercury Pharma Ltd, Morepen Labs.Ltd, Natco Pharma Limited, Nestor Pharma Ltd, Nicholas Piramal India Ltd, Orchid Pharma, Panacea Biotech Ltd, Paras Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer India Ltd, Pfizer Pharmaceutical, Ranbaxy Labs Ltd, Sterling Pharma, Sun Pharma Industries Ltd, Mumbai, Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Trident Pharma Pvt Ltd, Tridoss Labs P Ltd, Unicorn Pharma, Wilcure Remedies, Wockhardt Limited, Wyeth Ltd, and Zenith Healthcare Ltd.