Lok Sabha Question No. 461 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-02-06
Subject: Price Hike of Medicines
Ministry: CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS
Asked by: KAUSHALENDRA KUMAR

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACEUTICALS

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 461 TO BE ANSWERED ON 06 th  February, 2018

## Price Hike of Medicines

†461. SHRI KAUSHALENDRA KUMAR:

Will the Minister of CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has taken note of the continuous increase in the price of medicines and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the poor are unable to afford the medicines and if so, the reaction of the Government thereto;
- (c) whether the Government has hiked the price of all medicines during the last three years; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof along with the impact on the poor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS; MINISTRY  OF  SHIPPING  AND  MINISTRY  OF  CHEMICALS  AND  FERTILIZERS (SHRI MANSUKH L. MANDAVIYA)

(a) & (b): National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) is effectively monitoring the  prices  of  scheduled  as  well  as  non-scheduled  medicines  under  Drugs  (Prices Control) Order, 2013 (DPCO, 2013) so that the scheduled formulations are available to public  at  a  price  not  higher  than  ceiling  prices  notified  and  increase  in  prices  of scheduled and non-scheduled formulations is limited to the provision of DPCO, 2013. NPPA has fixed the ceiling prices of 851 formulations under DPCO, 2013 resulting in reduction of the ceiling prices to make the medicines affordable to the poor.

| Statement showing reduction in ceiling prices of scheduled formulations with respect to maximum price under NELM 2015 as on 31.1.2018   | Statement showing reduction in ceiling prices of scheduled formulations with respect to maximum price under NELM 2015 as on 31.1.2018   |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| %reduction with respect to Maximum Price                                                                                                | No. of scheduled formulations                                                                                                           |
| 0<= 5%                                                                                                                                  | 234                                                                                                                                     |
| 5<=10%                                                                                                                                  | 134                                                                                                                                     |
| 10<=15%                                                                                                                                 | 98                                                                                                                                      |
| 15<=20%                                                                                                                                 | 98                                                                                                                                      |
| 20<=25%                                                                                                                                 | 93                                                                                                                                      |
| 25<=30%                                                                                                                                 | 65                                                                                                                                      |
| 30<=35%                                                                                                                                 | 46                                                                                                                                      |
| 35<=40%                                                                                                                                 | 24                                                                                                                                      |
| Above 40%                                                                                                                               | 59                                                                                                                                      |
| Total formulations in NLEM 2015                                                                                                         | 851                                                                                                                                     |

NPPA also takes action against companies found overcharging the consumers based  on  the  references  received  from  the  State  Drugs  Controllers  /  individuals, samples  purchased  from  the  open  market  and  reports  from  market  based  data  and complaints reported through the grievance redressal websites, 'Pharma Jan Samadhan' and 'Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS)'. The monitoring of increase in the price of formulations beyond the permissible limit is also done on the basis of market data and individual complaints received.

(c) & (d): Annual  Upward  revision  in  the  prices of scheduled  formulations  is permissible  to  the  extent  of  increase  in  the  Wholesale  Price  Index  (WPI)  for  the scheduled  formulations  and  upto  10  percent  for  non-scheduled  formulations.  NPPA revised  the  ceiling  prices  in  respect  of  scheduled  drugs  after  incorporating  WPI  @ 6.32%  for  the  year  2013  (w.e.f.  01.04.2014);  3.849%  for  the  year  2014  (w.e.f. 01.04.2015) and 1.97186% for the year 2016, (w.e.f. 01.04.2017) in compliance with the provisions  contained  in  para  16  of  DPCO,  2013.  NPPA  has  also  notified  the  revised ceiling prices of scheduled formulations for the year 2015 after applying WPI of (Minus) 2.7105%.  Even after annual revision of the prices based on WPI, there is decrease in the prices of the medicines in most of the cases.

The  fixation  of  ceiling  prices/MRP  under  DPCO  2013  has  resulted  in  a  total estimated saving of Rs. 11,366 crores to the public as follows:

| Particulars                                                | Saving to consumer ( Rs. in Crores)   |
|------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| Under NLEM, 2011 from May, 2015 to Feb, 2016               | 2,422                                 |
| Under NLEM, 2015 from March, 2016 to till date (31.1.2018) | 2,643                                 |
| Coronary Stents in Feb, 2017                               | 4,450                                 |
| Knee Implants in Aug, 2017                                 | 1,500                                 |
| Para 19 - Cardio and Anti Diabetic in Jul, 2014            | 350                                   |
| TOTAL                                                      | 11,366                                |

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