Govt admits huge drug price differential

The National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), 2011 has 348 medicines which cover 489 formulations, including 16 fixed dose combinations.

These drugs are considered to be adequate to meet the common contemporary health needs of the general population of the country, the health ministry said. “It would be the general obligation of the health administrators to ensure abundant availability of these drugs,” it said. The bench agreed to give three months time to the government and posted the PIL filed by All India Drug Action Network for further hearing in January. However, it clarified, “Obviously, nobody would like prices of essential medicines to escalate in the name of new policy. ”

The health ministry admitted there was a huge difference in the manufacturing cost of the drugs and their MRP. “For the same medicines, there exists a huge difference in the prices of its branded version and its equivalent generic ones. Moreover, huge price differential also exists between different brands of the same medicine,” it said.