PRICES OF ESSENTIAL DRUGS TO GO UP BY 2% FROM APRIL 1st 2017

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has asked companies to submit the required documents to avail the annual price hike based on wholesale price index (WPI).

New Delhi: Prices of all essential medicines are likely to go up by nearly 2% from April 1. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has asked companies to submit the required documents to avail the annual price hike based on wholesale price index (WPI).

Under the Drugs Price Control Order, the regulator revises prices of all essential medicines annually based on the changes in WPI.

"As confirmed by the Economic Adviser (Ministry of Commerce & Industry), the annual change in the wholesale price index (WPI) works out as 1.97186% during the calendar year 2016 over the corresponding period in 2015," the pricing authority said in an office memorandum issued on Wednesday.

The government directly regulates prices of medicines that are part of the National List of essential medicines by capping their ceiling prices at the simple average of all drugs in a particular segment with market share of at least 1%. This includes over 875 drugs ranging from cancer drugs to anti-retrovirals to those used in treatment of diabetes, hypertension, hepatitis, kidney disorders etc. The list also includes antibiotics, analgesics, stents and condoms.

For all other medicines outside NLEM, companies are allowed to hike prices by up to 10% in a year.

At present, around 30% of the Rs 1 lakh crore pharmaceutical market is under direct price control.

While consumers may witness a slight hike in their medicine bills from next month, it is likely to bring some relief to pharmaceutical companies which have been reeling under pricing pressure since last two years. For instance, prices of cancer drugs India have come down by 13-86% in last one year, according to NPPA. It has also drastically cut prices of diabetes medicines.

SOURCE :http://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/pharma/prices-of-essential-drugs-to-go-up-by-2-from-april-1/57784188

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TAKING STEPS TO REDUCE DEPENDENCE ON API IMPORTS: CENTRAL GOVERNMENT

Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said huge imports of pharmaceutical raw materials was a matter of serious concern.

NEW DELHI: The government today said it was working on steps to reduce India's dependence on large scale import of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), as members in Rajya Sabhaexpressed concern over the issue.

Responding to the concerns during the Zero Hour, Commerce MinisterNirmala Sitharaman said huge imports of pharmaceutical raw materials was a matter of serious concern.

She said the government was fully seized of the issue of the country's dependence on import of APIs and that inbound shipments "are coming from a particular country and as a result, (there are) national security concerns".

"We are quite seized of the matter. Quite a few discussions are happening and let me place on record, the Prime Minister himself has sat with many of us and had discussions.

"There is some work going on it. I may not be able to go into the details at the moment. Let me assure the House, the government is taking it very seriously," the minister said.

Earlier, senior BJP leader Prabhat Jha drew attention of the House on the large scale imports of raw material used by the pharma industry.

He said 92 per cent of the APIs are imported, mainly from China. He said the Chinese APIs were about four times cheaper than those produced in India.

Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma too expressed concern on the issue and suggested that an inter-ministerial committee needs to look into it.

Deputy Chairman P J Kurien also expressed surprise on the large scale API imports. "How come that 90 per cent of raw material is imported from China. You can't have it," he asked.

SOURCE : http://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/pharma/taking-steps-to-reduce-dependence-on-api-imports-government/57791420

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NEW REGULATORS FOR HOMEOPATHY, AYURVEDA SOON

The panel also recommended that “for profit” entities —or companies — be allowed to set up colleges to meet the need for more AYUSH providers in healthcare.

NEW DELHI: After suggesting scrapping of Medical Council of India, the regulator for modern medicine, and replacing it with National Medical Commission, the government is planning to revamp the regulators for Indian systems of medicine and homeopathy to ensure better quality of doctors.

After much brainstorming, a high-level panel headed by Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya has finalised two draft bills which propose to replace the two regulators governing education in Indian systems of medicine (including Ayurveda) and homoeopathy and other reform measures such as national entrance and exit tests to ensure quality of doctors and expand the reach of these streams. The draft legislations suggested replacing theCentral Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) and the Central Council of Homoeopathy (CCH), statutory bodies under the health ministry, with the National Commission for Indian Systems of Medicine (NCISM) and the National Commission for Homeopathy (NCH).

The panel also recommended that “for profit” entities —or companies — be allowed to set up colleges to meet the need for more AYUSH providers in healthcare. Worried that a fee cap might be a deterrent for entry of private players in a sector where capacity expansion can brook no delay, the panel was against giving regulators the power of fee regulation as it said a merit-based admission system with reservation for deprived sections would address concerns about high cost of medical education for meritorious but poor and disadvantaged students.

“Number of colleges for Indian systems of medicine and Homeopathy has increased phenomenally to 404. The existing regulators failed to check mushrooming of substandard institutions causing erosion in quality of education,” said an official. The plan is to bring in competent and qualified persons based on merit to regulate AYUSH medical education in the NCISM and the NCH. The panel was against elected regulators and felt they should be selected by an independent and transparent selection process by a broad-based search committee.

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