Pharma industry urges govt for stable drug pricing policy

The Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI), which represents prominent multinational pharma companies, has asked the government for a "predictable" pricing policy for drugs and not to resort to Para 19 of the Drug Pricing Control Order (DPCO) that authorises the regulator to reduce prices significantly in public interest for a period as it deems fit.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority-India's drug pricing regulator-had earlier invoked Para 19 of DPCO to slash prices of cardiac stents and knee implants to make them affordable.

"Pricing policy should be predictable. There should be no change in the pricing policy like it was done by resorting to Para 19 of DPCO 2013, in 2014 and 2019," it said in a pr esentation to the Department of Pharmaceutical (DoP).


DoP has been holding meetings with stakeholders to discuss reforms in the pricing framework of drugs and medical devices.

Earlier, the drug pricing regulator had reduced the prices of stents by 87% and orthopaedic knee implants by invoking Para 19 of Drugs Prices Control Order 2013 which has subsequently been extended since then.