GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS

DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACEUTICALS

RAJYA SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.155

TO BE ANSWERED QN 3” JULY, 2009

Selling of medicines at higher prices

155. SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR:

Will the Minister of CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS be pleased to state:

(a)        whether Us a fact that several drug companies have been found to be selling medicines at higher prices to consumers; and

(b)        If so, the names of such companies so far identified and the steps Government propose to take to prevent such overcharging and to penalize the concerned companies?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS

(SHRI SRIKANT KUMAR JENAJ

(a) & (b) Under the provisions of the Drugs (Price Control) Order, 1995 the prices of 74 bulk drugs included in its Scheduled I and the formulation containing any of those Scheduled drugs are controlled. NPPA/Govt. fixes or revises prices of scheduled drug/formulations as per the provisions of the DPCO,1995. No one can sell any scheduled drug/formulation at a price higher than that price fixed by NPPA/Govt.

In respect of drugs not covered under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 1995 i.e. nonscheduled drugs, manufacturers are free to fix the prices by themselves without seeking approval of Government/NPPA. Such prices are normally fixed depending on various factors like the cost of bulk drugs used in the formulation, cost of exepients, cost of R&D, cost of utilities/packing material, sales promotion costs, trade margins, quality assurance cost, landed cost of imports etc. The Government takes corrective measures as per para 10 (b) of DPCO, 1995 where the public interest is found to be adversely affected.

As a result of constant monitoring of the prices of medicines by NPPA, a number of drug companies have been found to be selling medicines at a higher price to consumers. In such cases, NPPA initiates action against the companies to recover the overcharged amount from them as per the provisions of the DPCO’1995. Since the inception of NPPA fl August 1997 till 3l May, 2009, NPPA has raised demands for overcharging against 471 Pharma companies. The names of these companies are available at NPPA website www.nppaindia.nic.in