The prices of close to 1,000 brands of 'generic-generic'
and 'branded generic' drugs, including Omeprazole and Ciprofloxacin,
are set to crash by up to 92% with the pharma industry agreeing
to a government proposal on capping trade margins.
A senior government official said here that in
the meeting of the joint committee headed by Chemicals and Petrochemicals
Secretary Satwant Reddy, industrial bodies have submitted a list
of around 1,000 brands of generic-generic and branded generic drugs,
whose sale would be subjected to a cap in trade margins.
"Just a few companies have yet to submit their
list, while most manufacturers have already submitted," the
official said.
It has been agreed that the retail margins for
these drugs would be kept at 35% while the wholesale margins would
be 15%.
The committee, however, has not been able to finalise
on the mechanism of controlling prices of drugs under the natiolanl
list of essential medicines, which was to be put in the draft pharma
policy.
"Apart from a cost based pricing control,
the industry representatives also suggested reducing and freezing
of prices and then check the increase," the official said,
adding a final mechanism was being worked out.
The Satwant Reddy Committee, which was supposed
to submit its report tomorrow, has extended the deadline and will
be submitting it by the middle of October, he added.
