In a strategic move aimed at checking overcharging of drugs, the Gujarat Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA) referred 479 cases of Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) violations to the NPPA in the year 2015-16 involving an amount of Rs.1,00,35,116. With this, Gujarat has retained its position as top performer, to efficiently detect and refer the most number of DPCO violation cases to NPPA.

Number of cases of DPCO violation reported by Gujarat FDCA to the NPPA has substantially increased over the years, according to Dr H G Koshia, commissioner of Gujarat FDCA. Since 2009, the state drug regulators have detected around 1,360 cases of DPCO violations involving Rs.2,95,24,788 as recovery amount. In 2012-13, they reported 93 cases at the tune of Rs.8,80,911, which rose to 320 cases in the year 2013-14 to 468 in 2014-15.

Gujarat has been on the forefront of reporting violations of the DPCO cases to NPPA. which interestingly prompted, top officials from the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) to visit the Gujarat FDCA in the past to understand the techniques adopted by the state drug regulatory body in efficiently detecting the cases of DPCO violation.

“To ensure patient centric services through efficient drug regulatory mechanism, we have been training our officials on keeping a tab on the ceiling price as notified by NPPA which is binding to all manufacturers. As an ongoing effort, our officials on a regular basis are briefed on all the basics of how to effectively calculate the prices of the medicines available in the market, compare and check it with the notified prices and how to efficiently and timely report or refer all the cases to the NPPA. No patients should suffer due to unfair pricing which may affect the accessibility of these drugs to the patients,” he added.

The government fixes the prices of essential drugs based on the simple average of all medicines in a particular therapeutic segment, having sales of more than 1 per cent. Companies are allowed to hike prices of such drugs by up to 10 per cent in a year. State drug control licensing authorities (SLAs) are required to keep a tab on medicines that come under the DPCO, and check if any company is overcharging the consumer. These cases are then reported to the NPPA, which then issues notices to these drug companies and retrieves the excess money charged with interest.