Pharma MNCs seek monitoring, not price control

NEW DELHI: Alarmed by the government’s move to bring more medicines under cost-based price control, MNC drug makers on Monday told the government that they would prefer greater monitoring of drug prices as the right prescription to ensure that prices don’t spiral out of control.

Chiefs of all major MNC drug makers, including Pfizer MD Keval Handa, GlaxoSmithKline MD Kalyana Sundaram and Novartis vice-chairman and managing director Ranjit Shahani met senior ministry officials and proposed that the government should move out of price control to a regime of greater monitoring.

This would meet the objectives of the new drug policy and the common minimum programme, they said.The ministry, which has circulated its draft pharma policy to other ministries, asked if the companies could provide alternative models of price regulations that would ensure accessibility of essential medicines at reasonable costs. The companies are expected to present a few alternative models which would not be too harsh on them, while meeting the government’s social objectives.

The chemicals and fertilisers ministry had not released the pricing formula for public debate, unlike in the case of part A of the policy, dealing with other means of ensuring affordable medicines.

Since the draft policy has already been circulated to other ministries, major changes in the pricing formula may not be very likely. However, there could be a different situation if other ministries would favour de-control and if the policy is referred to a parliamentary panel.

The draft policy aims at bringing under price control, 354 essential medicines which include costly cancer, cardiovascular and pain killer drugs. This would increase the scope of price control by 8% to cover close to a third of the total pharmaceutical market. The quantum of the price fall would vary from 10% to 70%.