Lok Sabha Question No. 3114 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-13
Subject: Increasing Prices of Medicines
Ministry: CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS
Asked by: Smt. Manju Sharma

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACEUTICALS

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. †3114 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 13 th  DECEMBER, 2024

## Increasing Prices of Medicines

## †3114. Smt. Manju Sharma:

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

- (a) the percentage increase in prices of medicines during the last three years;
- (b) the number of medicines for which permission has been sought from the Government for price hike;
- (c) if so, the details and names of the said medicines; and
- (d) the details of the medicines whose prices have been decreased or reduced?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS (SMT. ANUPRIYA PATEL)

(a) : National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)  under the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), fixes the ceiling price of medicines included in Scheduled-I to the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013 (DPCO, 2013). All manufactures of scheduled medicines have to sell their products within the ceiling price (plus applicable Goods and Service Tax) fixed by the NPPA. In case of non-scheduled formulations, a manufacturer is at liberty to fix the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of the drugs launched by it. However, as per the DPCO 2013, no manufacturer can increase MRP of non-scheduled drug by more than 10% during preceding 12 months.

The  ceiling  prices  of  scheduled  medicines  are  revised  annually  on  the  basis  of Wholesale Price Index (WPI) (all commodities) for the preceding calendar year on or before 1st April of every year. The WPI increase is the maximum permissible increase for scheduled medicine and may or may not be availed by the manufacturers based on market dynamics. The percentage increase in the ceiling prices of medicines as per WPI during the last three years are given below:

## WPI Year wise

|   S. No. | Year       | WPI       |
|----------|------------|-----------|
|        1 | 01.04.2021 | 0.53638%  |
|        2 | 01.04.2022 | 10.76607% |
|        3 | 01.04.2023 | 12.1218%  |

(b)  &  (c):    NPPA  received  applications  in  respect  of  77  formulations  from  various pharmaceutical manufacturing/marketing companies and industry associations requesting for upward  revision  of  price  for  their  formulation(s)  on  the  grounds  that  ensuring  continued availability of these drugs at existing rates was not viable due to reasons like increase in cost of production, increase in cost of active pharmaceuticals ingredients, changes in exchange rate, request for discontinuation of some of the formulations etc. The price revision was carried out only  in  respect  of  11  scheduled  formulations  viz.,  Benzyl  Penicillin  10  Lakh  IU  injection, Atropine Injection 0.6mg/ml, Streptomycin 750 mg injection, Streptomycin 1000 mg injection, Salbutamol  2mg  tablets,  Salbutamol  4mg  tablets,  Salbutamol  5mg  respiratory  solution, Pilocarpine  2%  eye  drops,  Cefadroxil  Tablet  500mg,  Desferrioxamine  500mg  Powder  for injection, Lithium Tablet 300mg.

(d):      As on 11.12.2024, Ceiling Prices of 926 scheduled formulations have been fixed by NPPA  of  which  ceiling  prices  of  742  are  fixed/  refixed  under  National  List  of  Essential Medicines  (NLEM),  2022.    The  average  price  reduction  due  to  refixation  of  prices  under NLEM, 2022 is about 16.82%. Further, as on 11.12.2024, Retail Price of approx. 3,046 new drugs, as defined in DPCO 2013, have been fixed by NPPA for the applicant manufacturer. In addition,  the  NPPA  has  taken  other  measures  to  regulate  the  prices  of  drugs  using  special provisions under Para 19 of DPCO, 2013 which inter alia include the following:

- i. NPPA  capped  the  MRP  of  106  non-scheduled  drug  formulations  in  2014  which includes  22  diabetic  and  84  cardiovascular  drugs  on  account  of  high  inter  brand variation for the same medicine.
- ii. As a patient centric measure, ceiling price of Orthopaedic Knee Implants were fixed in August 2017.
- iii. In  February,  2019,  Trade  Margin  of  non-scheduled  formulations  of  42  select  Anticancer  medicines  were  capped  under  'Trade  Margin  Rationalization'  approach, wherein prices of above 500 brands of medicines were reduced by average around 50 percent.
- iv. Price of Oxygen Concentrators, Pulse Oximeter, Blood Pressure Monitoring Machine, Nebulizer, Digital Thermometer and Glucometer were capped under 'Trade Margin Rationalisation' Approach in June 2021 and July 2021.

The details of prices fixed by NPPA is available on the website of NPPA i.e. nppaindia.nic.in.

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