NPPA slashes rate of 54 essential drugs by 55 per cent

Mumbai:The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has cut back by up to 55 per cent rates of 54 essential drugs, including drugs for cancer (brain and breast), hypertension, diabetes, antibiotics and other heart ailments. Drug pricing regulator NPPA on Tuesday mentioned via Twitter that a “few more” medicines will come under the control as part of measures to provide relief to patients.

The NPPA also mentioned in a tweet, that since March 2016, there has been “significant price reduction” by up to 86 per cent in some major cancer drugs, and by up to 42 per cent in major diabetic drugs, 55 per cent in cardiovascular drugs.

The regulator has been fixing and modifying the prices of drugs, and by January this year, when it had slashed the prices of 33 drugs, over 620 drugs had been placed under the price.

On February 13, the authority fixed the ceiling price of drug-eluting stents at about Rs 30,000 and of bare metal stents at approximately Rs 7,500. Apart from cancer drugs, important medicines used in the treatment of diabetes, the government, thereby reduced the cost by an average of around 25 to 50 per cent.