In a significant step towards healthcare reforms, the Centre has announced the formation of a five-member committee to oversee pricing reforms for drugs and medical devices.
The committee is expected to submit its report to the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers within three months.
Apart from three key members from the department – the Secretary of the Department of Pharmaceuticals, the Chairman of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), and the Senior Economic Adviser to the Department of Pharmaceuticals, the committee will also include two representatives from the pharmaceutical industry.
According a notification by the Department of Pharmaceuticals recently, the primary objective of the committee is to strike a balance between the pricing and availability of essential medicines while incentivising the industry for growth and exports.
Among its various responsibilities, the committee will focus on instituting reforms within the NPPA, establishing a price moderation framework for medical devices, providing incentives to reduce imports, and developing a framework for emerging and precision therapies.
This framework aims to ensure timely access to treatments for patients in need. One of the key tasks of the committee will be to oversee the drafting of a new Drugs and Medical Devices (Control) Order, aligning with the objectives set forth.
Currently, the NPPA follows the regulations outlined in the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013 (DPCO-2013), which replaced the “cost-based” pricing of the Drug Policy of 1994 with “market-based” pricing.
The NPPA, responsible for setting the ceiling price for scheduled formulations listed in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), also monitors the prices of non-scheduled medications to ensure that any increase in maximum retail price (MRP) does not exceed 10% of the average price of the previous 12-month period.
