India extends price caps to 52 more essential drugs

India has extended price caps to 52 drugs deemed essential by the government, including painkillers and antibiotics, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) said in its latest move to improve the affordability of medicines. The additional drugs join a list of nearly 400 essential treatments under price control in India, where a majority of people live on less than $2 a day and health insurance is scarce.   

Indian law allows the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) regulator to fix prices of drugs on a list of essential medicines. In a notice issued in September, the body had fixed the prices of 36 drugs, including those to treat infections and diabetes.  The latest additions bring the total market size of medicines under price control to about $20 million, said market research firm AIOCD Pharmasofttech AWACS Pvt Ltd.  The wide-ranging price cuts have hit both local and foreign drugmakers in India and have been opposed by many in the industry, who have said drug prices in the country are already among the lowest in the world. In the latest pricing move, the drugs added also include medicines used to treat cancer and skin disorders, a notice on the NPPA website said. It cited the price at which the drugs could now be sold but did not say what that were before.  Price caps on some of these drugs only apply to specific companies, it added.  (Source: Reuters)‎