New Delhi, 21 Aug: The growing outcry for including all essential medicines under the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) got a vital boost with the Health Ministry supporting the claim and urging the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) to consider the revision of DPCO.
“The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has already requested the Department of Pharmaceuticals, the administrative Department of the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO), 1995, to bring all medicines in the National List of Essential Medicines, 2011 within the purview of the price control of the DPCO,” sources said.
DPCO is a government order under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, to control the prices of drugs. In the 70s, there were 347 drugs listed as essential life-saving medicines and were under the DPCO. The government admitted that more than 300 drugs were under DPCO in the early 1980s, which was subsequently reduced to 140 in 1987. At present, prices of only 74 bulk drugs and formulations are under the price control regime. Once a medicine is brought under DPCO, it cannot be sold at a price higher than that fixed by the government.
As the proposed pharmaceutical pricing policy was getting delayed uncertainly, there was an increasing demand from different quarters to the DoP to revise the DPCO and put all essential drugs under the DPCO. Medical representatives, chemists and a section of drug control officers have been demanding the inclusion of all essential drugs under the DPCO.
Out of the 348 drugs on the NLEM 2011, only 37 are currently under the DPCO. The 74 bulk drugs under DPCO is estimated just around 20 per cent of the market. Out of these 74 bulk drugs, nearly half are out of production as the manufacturers did not consider it to be financially feasible.
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