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 per cent with the pharma industry agreeing to a government proposal on capping trade margins.
A senior government official said in New Delhi 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 are left to submit their list, while most of the manufacturers have submitted," the official said.
It has been agreed that the retail margins for these drugs would be kept at 35 per cent while the wholesale margins would be 15 per cent.
The committee, however, has not been able to finalise on the mechanism of controlling prices of drugs under the natiolanal 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 on Saturday, has extended the deadline and will be submitting it by the middle of October, he added.
The official said a final draft of the proposed pharma policy was expected by October-end which would then be sent to the Cabinet for its approval.
The official said as per the list submitted by the industrial bodies prices of different brands of medicines like Omeprazole, an ulcer drug, could see a reduction of 8.8 per cent, while that of Ciprofloxacin, a broad spectrum antibiotic manufactured by companies like Dupen Laboratories could see a crash 92 per cent , and will cost just Rs 6.90 instead of Rs 84.
He said while companies are expected to enforce the deadline of capping the trade margins from October 2, they would be given a month's transition time to follow the new system.
"From November 2 onwards all companies will have to follow the trade margin caps," he added.
He said the joint-committee has made progress on the public private partnerships for helping below poverty line families get access to medicines.
