India may expand drug price control catalogue

Source: DXY held the first meeting of a group convened by the Ministry of health of India on July 24, 2014 to discuss the addition of more essential drugs to the list of price controlled drugs In India, 70 per cent of the 1.2 billion people live on less than $2 a day and less than 20 per cent have health insurance, a move that gives people the ability to buy essential drugs An unnamed member of the committee said that the goal of the panel was to complete the list of essential drugs subject to price control within six months, and then it would take two months for consensus Lowering the price ceiling for more drugs will upset global pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Abbott, putting pressure on India's 15 billion pharmaceutical industry In recent years, governments around the world have been putting pressure on price reduction and establishing a legal system that does not allow patent protection Global pharmaceutical companies have been under pressure, but these emerging markets are an important source of growth power for companies Once implemented, the move will also affect local pharmaceutical companies, including Lambert laboratories and wockhardt Co., Ltd., which were banned from selling products in the United States due to drug quality problems by U.S regulators According to industry officials, India last year adjusted price controlled drugs from the previous 74 to 348, covering 30% of the total amount of drugs sold domestically India's pharmaceutical industry index fell in a row since the meeting and closed 0.3% lower on the 24th, while Mumbai's bsesn index, the main market, closed 1.4% higher Members of the essential drug list Committee said the group would gather input from the pharmaceutical industry and other stakeholders before finalizing the drug list and would review all areas of treatment covered by the drug Anti infective drugs account for the largest share of the pharmaceutical market in India, followed by drugs for gastrointestinal disorders, heart and respiratory diseases, according to industry reports According to a government document obtained by Reuters, although the group leader can nominate five experts, including doctors, the 13 members of the group are currently government officials, mostly from the Ministry of health Doctors and nurses say India needs to increase the number of drugs on the so-called national list of essential drugs (nlem), because drugs with price caps are not enough to meet medical needs Srinivasan, a member of the all India drug action network, said that many drugs, such as the anti infective agent Amikacin and the antibiotic cycloserine, as well as some drugs in the WHO essential drugs catalogue, were not included in the NLEM in India The group supports drug price caps India's pharmaceutical companies were affected last year by price controls, which they blame for the drop in profit margins in the industry Excluding interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, GSK's profit in India fell from 31.3% in the same period last year to 20.7% in 2013, Reuters data showed Industry officials say prices for generic drugs sold in some unregulated markets in India are already low, and adding more price controlled drugs will put more pressure on their revenues After being put on the list last year, the price of the six piece package of GlaxoSmithKline antibiotic, angel, fell 44% in India A spokesman for GlaxoSmithKline in London said the company would not comment on "opinions" that more drugs might be added to the price control list, but expressed support for the government "to increase essential drugs in consideration of patients' needs and ability to pay." According to CRISIL, a research company, with the sales of patented drugs slowing down in western countries, drug sales in India is a major emerging market, with a growth rate of about 6% in 2013-2014 Now, due to the lowest price control in history IMS Health forecasts that India will become the 11th largest pharmaceutical market in the world by 2017 and 13th in 2012 Original address: http://