An inter-ministerial committee of joint secretaries of different ministries has been formed by the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) to look into the issues and suggest ways and means to fix the prices of patented drugs in the country.

The DoP's action in this regard comes after the utter failure of the department to fix the prices of patented drugs in the country even though the department had held negotiations, re-negotiations and discussions with various stakeholders on the issue during the last several years.

The new inter-ministerial committee of joint secretaries has been constituted under the chairmanship of Shambhu Kallolikar, joint secretary (DoP). Other members of the committee are joint secretary, department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP); joint secretary, ministry of health and family welfare; and member secretary national pharmaceutical pricing authority (NPPA). Director (DoP) BK Singh will be the convener of the new committee.

According to senior officials in the DoP, the inter-ministerial committee has been constituted in light of the diverse opinion of different stakeholders received on DoP's earlier report on patented drugs. The DoP had some years ago constituted an expert panel for price negotiation on patented drugs. After several years of dilly-dallying on the issue, the panel submitted its report to the DoP in February last year.

Immediately after the submission of the report by the panel, the DoP had asked the stakeholders and experts to send their comments and suggestions by March 31 last year to take a final view on the report.  But, as it did not get much response from the stakeholders, the department had then extended the date till May 7, 2013. But, as it received diverse opinions from different stakeholders, the DoP decided to constitute an inter-ministerial committee to look into the issues and suggest ways and means to fix the prices of patented drugs in the country.

The DoP has asked the industry associations like IDMA, BDMA, OPPI, IPA, FICCI, SPIC, CIPI, FOPE and other stakeholders to provide additional or revised comments if any by 25.02.2014 to enable the committee to examine the issue in a fresh perspective.

In its report, the earlier DoP committee had recommended a formula on price negotiation of patented drugs, linking it to the per capita income in the country. It also suggested setting up a committee headed by the chairman of the NPPA to decide the price of patented drugs before they are marketed for use in India.