Lok Sabha Question No. 2497 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-09
Subject: Guidelines by NPPA
Ministry: CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS
Asked by: Khagen Murmu, Raja Amareshwara Naik, Sukanta Majumdar

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

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2497 TO BE ANSWERED ON 9 th  July, 2019

## Guidelines by NPPA

## 2497.  SHRI KHAGEN MURMU: SHRI RAJA AMARESHWARA NAIK: DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR:

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

- (a) the  guidelines  laid  down  by  the  National  Pharmaceutical  Pricing  Authority (NPPA) in determining and fixing the prices of essential/life saving medicines;
- (b) whether  cases  of  deviation  from  the  guidelines  in  fixing  the  prices  of essential/life saving medicines by the drug companies have been reported to the Government;
- (c) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken thereon;
- (d) whether all the drug manufacturing companies have updated their price list of medicines on their respective websites;
- (e) if so, the details thereof and if not, the steps being taken in this regard; and
- (f) the other steps taken by the Government to bring transparency in fixing the prices of essential/life saving medicines?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS (SHRI D. V. SADANANDA GOWDA)

(a): The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) fixes the ceiling prices of Scheduled medicines and retail prices of new drugs as per the provisions of the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013 (DPCO).

(b) & (c) The NPPA also monitors the prices of  medicines  and  initiates  action against  such  manufacturers  which  have  overcharged  patients.  The  details  of demand notices issued by NPPA are as follows:

| Year                        |   Number of cases |   Demanded Amount (Rs Crores) |
|-----------------------------|-------------------|-------------------------------|
| upto March, 2013            |               926 |                       3021.6  |
| 2013-2014                   |                90 |                        405.38 |
| 2014-2015                   |               128 |                        600.31 |
| 2015-2016                   |               263 |                        931.63 |
| 2016-2017                   |               137 |                        333.97 |
| 2017-2018                   |               221 |                        704.12 |
| 2018-2019                   |               226 |                        288    |
| 2019-20 (upto 31 May, 2019) |                42 |                         85.22 |
| Total                       |              2033 |                       6370.23 |

The detailed list of overcharging cases where demand notices have been issued is available on NPPA's website www.nppaindia.nic.in.

(d) & (e) Drug  manufacturers  are  required  to  upload  the  price  data  of  their medicines in Form V of DPCO, 2013 through Integrated Pharmaceutical Database Management  System  (IPDMS)  to  NPPA.  Further,  the  Maximum  Retail  Price  of medicines is also reflected in Pharma Sahi Dam App / Web version on the basis of market based database referred by NPPA. Under  DPCO,  2013,  there  is  no  provision  to  direct  the  drug  manufacturing companies to update their price list in their respective websites. Accordingly, NPPA has not given any such directions. (f) In order to have transparency, a draft version of the Price Calculation Sheets for the proposed revised price notifications, including wherever applicable, the Price to Retailer (PTR) and Moving Annual Turnover (MAT) values adopted for calculations, is uploaded on the website of NPPA for 10 clear working days to invite comments  from  the  pharmaceutical  firms.  Only  after  taking  into  account  the comments  or  any  additional  data  thus  received  within  the  given  time  period,  the NPPA finalizes the ceiling and the retail Prices. Thus the entire procedure of price fixation is available in the public domain which ensures transparency and accountability of the whole process.

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