Govt to amend norms to empower National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) to fix prices of 350 drugs

The government today said it will soon amend norms to empower NPPA to regulate about 350 medicines and ensure they are sold at affordable rates.

At present, NPPA is not able to regulate 350 medicines, which are under the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), in the absence of market data. Therefore, the authority needs to be empowered by amending the Drugs Prices Control Order (DPCO) for accessing the data.

In last four-six months, about 1,450 medicines have been brought under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, (DPCO) 2013 — resulting in a saving of about Rs 5,000 crore to consumers.

Plans are afoot for establishing five med-tech zones and six pharma parks, while 100 per cent FDI has been allowed including in brown-field projects.

Efforts are being made to reduce the country’s dependence on import of medical devices, he said.

The Indian pharma industry has potential to reach USD 55 billion in the next couple of years from the current USD 33 billion.