The Supreme Court has on Friday directed all parties concerned to come out with a final list of essential drugs that are to be brought under the purview of the Drugs Price Control Order (DPCO). It has asked both the petitioners and respondents to sit together and consider a criterion to be applied to finalise the drugs that are to be brought under price control. The Court has given two weeks time to the parties to submit rejoinders on the fresh list submitted by the petitioner. The SC is to take up the case on October 9, 2003.

In a hearing on the SLP challenging the order of Karnataka High Court that objected to the key aspects of the Centre’s Pharma Policy 2002, the Apex Court wanted an early end to the dispute over the list of essential drugs. The court felt that there was no need for considering the World Health Organisation’s list of essential drugs in its totality and called for a list that is relevant to India’s specific health needs.

In its previous hearing, the SC Bench, comprising of Chief Justice V N Khare and Justice S B Sinha, had asked the government to explain why important drugs like the ones used for the treatment of typhoid, hepatitis A and cardiac diseases had not been included in the essential drug list submitted before the court on July 11. The Centre had produced the 'National list of Essential Medicines 2003' which contained 354 drugs like anesthetics, analgesics, antipyretics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicines, anti-allergics, anti-infectives, anti-migrane, anti-parkinsonism, blood products, dermatological medicines, disinfectants and antiseptics, gasterointestinal medicines, hormones, contraceptives, immunologicals, muscle relaxants, opthalmological preparations, psychotherapeutic medicines etc, which meant an addition of 75 drugs to the previous essential drugs list.

The Court had been commenting about the government’s absence of a definite stand over the inclusion of a drug under price control category.