Endorsing the general criticism that many of the formulations brought under the price control regime were pulled out from the market already by the manufacturers in view of non-profitability, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has hit the roadblock of `no-information’ once again with regard to 99 formulations during the process to revise the prices.
The NPPA, which is currently in the process of revising the prices of essential medicines as per the new Drug Price Control Order, 2013, had earlier also landed in the same situation with regard to 55 formulations. Thus so far it could not collect information on a total of 154 formulations thereby putting the price revision process in a fix in these cases.
According to the new DPCO and the Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy, as many as 348 essential medicines had been brought under price control and a total of over 650 formulations thus had to be placed under the control. The NPPA had already revised the prices of over 350 formulations. With 154 formulations, for which information are not available, the agency has covered over 500 packs now.
Before and after the announcement of the new drug price policy, the public interest groups had been raising the concerns that many of the essential formulations were already out of the market with the manufacturers stopping the production long back on the grounds of non-profitability.
The formulations, for which information were not available, included local anesthetics, analgesics , antipyretics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicines, drugs used to treat gout and disease modifying agents used in rheumatoid disorders, antidotes and other substances used in poisonings, anti-infectives, anti-bacterials, antiretroviral medicines, antipneumocystosis and antitoxoplasmosis medicines, and blood products and plasma substitutes, among others.
According to the notification by the NPPA, the formulations were Ether, Ketamine Hydrochloride, Lignocaine Hydrochloride, Diazepam, Tramadol, Activated Charcoal, Atropine Sulphate, Methylthioninium chloride (Methylene blue), Penicillamine, Dimercaprol, Flumazenil, Sodium Nitrite, Sodium Thiosulphate, Pralidoxime Chloride(2-PAM), Phenytoin Sodium, Sodium Valproate, Anthelminthics, Piperazine, Isoniazid, Nystatin, Stavudine, Didanosine, Efavirenz, Nevirapine, Indinavir, Nelfinavir, Ritonavir Saquinavir, Pyrimethamine, Clindamycin , Pentamidine Isothionate, Cyclosporine, Actinomycin D, Cyclophosphamide, Mercaptopurine, Ferrous Sulphate/Fumrate, Pyridoxine, Dextran-70, Fresh frozen plasma, Polygeline, Cryoprecipitate, Factor IX Complex (Coagulation Factors II,VII, IX, X), Platelet Rich Plasma, Procainamide Hydrochloride, Digoxin, Urokinase, Neomycin + Bacitracin, Methylrosanilinium Chloride (Gentian Violet), Zinc Oxide, Coal Tar, Salicylic Acid, Lignocaine, Fluorescein, Barium Sulphate, Calcium Ipodate, Iopanoic Acid, Meglumine Iothalamate, Meglumine Iotroxate, Propyliodone, Sodium Meglumine Diatrizoate, Chlorhexidine, Gentian Violet, Acriflavin+Glycerin, Bleaching Powder, Formaldehyde Solution , Hydrochlorothiazide, Dicyclomine Hydrochloride, Zinc Sulfate, Ethinylestradiol + Norethisterone, Hormone Releasing IUD, Tuberculin, Purified Protein derivative, Pyridostigmine, Chloramphenicol, Miconazole, Povidone Iodine, Tetracaine, Hydrochloride, Pilocarpine, Phenylephrine, Codeine phosphate, Dextromethorphan, N/2 Saline, Potassium Chloride, Pyridoxine, Nicotinamide, and Vitamin D (Ergocalciferol).
The agency gathers information about the medicines directly from the manufacturers and also through IMS Health from the market, and but it has not given any information further on the non-availability of information about these drugs.