Even as more pharmaceutical companies went to the court challenging the new pricing system of essential drugs, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) is into the job of monitoring the prices as per the existing system. However, it is yet to get any complaint about the scarcity of essential drugs or violation of prices.

“We are monitoring the prices as per the existing system. There is no change in the system except that pricing formula has changed. There is no need for special mechanism to monitoring the prices other than the existing methods,” NPPA chairman C P Singh told Pharmabiz.

On giving special instruction to the State drug controllers as desired by some, he said there was no need for such orders  as nothing has changed except the formula of fixing the prices of essential drugs. “However, we hope that State Governments and drug controllers will take special efforts to ensure the availability and ensure new prices of drugs,” he said, referring to the new prices came into force from July 29 as per the new Drugs Price Control Order (DPCO) 2013.

The chairman also disclosed that the agency did not get any specific complaint regarding non-availability or price violation of essential drugs so far under the new DPCO. “There was a newspaper report about one shop in Delhi. Other than that, we don’t have any inputs or complaints. Otherwise also, we do not get direct complaints going by the records in the recent months,” he added.

Referring to the order by the Delhi High Court on the issue, Singh said the order was about some individual companies and there was no confusion about the new prices of drugs. The court had asked for supplementary list of prices from the companies and did not stay the new prices fixed by the NPPA, he clarified.

In the first batch of 151 formulations, the NPPA had revised the prices as per the new DPCO and the prices came into effect from July 25, after a window period of 45 days.

Several companies, including Cipla, Novartis, Wockhardt Limited, Lupin Limited, Intas Pharmaceuticals Limited, Alembic Pharmaceuticals Limited, Sandoz Private Limited and Chiron Behring Vaccines Private Limited, had approached the High Court against the provisions in the DPCO. The court on its part asked the Government not to take any punitive steps against the companies.

The Court has also sent notices to the Centre and others including NPPA on a petition filed by the Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA) on the issue of drug pricing.