The Medical Technology Association of India (MTaI), an association of research based medical technology companies who have made remarkable investments in India, has expressed disappointment over the broad-brushed announcement of price capping of coronary stents by NPPA as it feels that this move will reduce the options available for the Indian patient for their specific medical condition or deprive them the satisfaction of choosing from the most advanced and cutting edge technologies.

So far, India which was known for its quality of angioplasties, now as a result of the announced price capping, may lose this place of pride eventually. To ensure that India continues to maintain its rightful place in world-class medical care as well as continues to grant the patients the right to choose their treatment, MTaI once again seeks differentiation between the distinct categories of Drug Eluting Stents.

DPCO, 2013 provides a transition time of forty five days after the ceiling price has been fixed for a scheduled formulation, that the maximum retail price of such scheduled formulation does not exceed the ceiling price. However, in case of coronary stents there has been no transition time which has been provided to the industry. It is important to note that for coronary stents and all the members of the supply chain, this exercise is happening for the first-time. This entire exercise needs to be conducted keeping patient safety and critical medical needs of patients in mind. Sudden implementation of this order will result in an overall disruption in the market and supply chain, leading to non-availability and chaos for patients in need. Considering the same, MTaI requests the government to extend the transition time for implementation of relabeling to 45 days.

It is important to note that medical device is a very small and nascent sector in India yet having a significant impact on the patient health outcomes. Disruptive and continuous innovation is hallmark to medical devices like stents which have really evolved over the last 15 years and still continue to revolutionize the coronary conditions landscape. MTaI urges to keep the patients’ choices and patients’ medical conditions as priorities in this highly intricate sector.