The Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA) has urged the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) to bring the fixed dose combination (FDC) drugs and some other drugs presently not in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) under price control in the new national drug pricing policy (NDPP) 2011 announced by the DoP recently. The IPA also demanded that the cost of manufacturing should be used as a criterion for formulation pricing.

Proposing to have a re-look at the new draft policy, the IPA said that the NDPP will provide the pharma companies a free hand to price other drugs at their own choice and therefore this should be avoided. Bulk drugs should also be in ‘reasonable’ price control.

Putting forth its suggestions to the government on the proposed draft NDPP, Raj Vaidya, vice president and chairman, Community Pharmacy Division, IPA told Pharmabiz that there is a need for drugs and fixed dose combinations (FDCs) not in the NLEM to be brought under price control or at least in the ‘reasonable’ price control category.

In fact, production and marketing of irrational/clinically unproven/hazardous drugs and FDCs should be discouraged by keeping them under tighter price control, he added.

Today, those drugs which are in price control are, according to industry, under ‘too tight’ price control, making them unviable to manufacture. Companies often shift focus to market those drugs and FDCs which are not under price control, and many times price them exorbitantly, he pointed out.

The price control, therefore, should be reasonable and not too tight, at the same time not allow for exorbitant pricing. The pricing should be adequate to ensure that it is within limits for the common man, as well as profitable to the industry, he stated.

The principle of the NDPP that those drugs in the NLEM should be in price control is wrong. The pricing control should be based on cost-based pricing and should depend on the Cost of Production (COP). The present Maximum Allowable Post-manufacturing Expenses (MAPE) of 100 is not sufficient for some drugs,  especially low cost drugs for companies to market them with enthusiasm. Therefore, the MAPE can be varied depending on cost of production, so as not to hurt the patient too much, and to give sufficient profits to the manufacturer. This will enable the industry to grow, invest money in R&D and also ensure that all essential medicines are available at reasonable costs to the patients, said Vaidya who is also a Community Pharmacist at the Hindu Pharmacy, Goa.