PM directed Chief Secretary Pharmaceuticals to take appropriate action on NGOs appeal
Khanna, April 2, 2015: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed chief Secretary Pharmaceuticals to take appropriate action on NGOs appeal for fixation of MRP on Generic Division Medicines (Maximum Retail Price) as per manufacturing cost of the generic drugs, instead equivalent to Branded Drugs and to impose a complete ban on giving Brand name to Generic drugs.
In a statement today, PD Bansal, President Lok Sewa Club Khanna said that an appeal was sent to the Prime Minister by their NGO that they should take personal interest in this very sensitive and touching matter in the larger public interest and required amendments should be made in the drug price policy so that generic drugs may be beneficial to the poor and common public.
He added it was disclosed in the appeal that there is no provision in Drug Pricing Policy that the companies should fix MRP on generic drugs according to their manufacturing cost, rather, companies are free to fix MRP at their own will which give birth to devil of commission and it also provides a plate form for the companies to develop open loot of the general public. It has been demanded that NPPA should be ordered to amend Drug Pricing Policy so that companies may be restricted to fix MRPs as per the manufacturing cost of the drug and a reasonable margin so that the common and poor man may be provided affordable medical treatment. Cheaper and quality medical treatment can be easily provided to the poor patients if the generic drug manufacturing companies are bound to fix MRP (Maximum Retail Price) according to the manufacturing cost of the drugs and doctors are strictly ordered to prescribe generic medicines to the patients in government hospitals. Generic division medicines have exactly the same active ingredients, dose, effect, side-effects and route of administration and strength as the branded division drugs. But only due to weak drug Price Policy of the government i.e. NPPA (National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority) New Delhi, generic drugs fail to provide cheaper treatment.
Bansal added that it has been also mentioned in the appeal that the unjustified excess MRP printed on the generic medicines by companies is being used to promote their product sale. The said difference in the actual cost of the drug and printed MRP is being distributed among the distributor, whole seller, retailer and the prescriber in the shape of undue benefits.
Bansal said that companies dealing in the manufacturing and marketing of generic drugs offer costly gifts, tour packages or in any other shape benefits to the prescribers and those companies consider all these expenses while fixing MRP to a generic drug. The Code of Marketing Practice for Indian pharmaceutical industry by the government states do not allow any kind of benefits to the prescriber but it is an open secret that all this happens. Till the generic drug manufacturing companies are not bound to fix MRP according to the cost of the drug, open loot of patients cannot be stopped, Bansal further added.
Generic Drugs: Big drug manufacturing pharmaceutical companies spend huge amount to develop, launch and market a new drug brand and they protect their new drug brand with a special patent (a specific fixed time period reserved for the sale of drug) and during that patent no other company is allowed to manufacture and sale that specific active ingredient in any form of drug. But eventually when the patent expires, the parent company allows other companies to manufacture and sell the ingredient at their own will and the same drug is named as generic drug. And the generic drug cost much cheaper to the new companies because they have not to bear the cost of developing, launching, marketing and patent expenses, whereas, there is no restriction on companies to print less MRP as compared to branded ones which leads to open loot of general public.
Generic Drugs are not Sub Standard: Because generic drugs cost much less to the retailer than that of branded medicines and sometimes chemist charge less value from the customer in comparison to maximum retail price printed on the strip of medicine and hence people feel it astonishing that the quality and effectiveness may have been compromised by the manufacturing company, whereas, generic drugs are cheaper only because companies manufacturing generic drugs are exempted from so many other extra expenses. But the later drug manufacturing companies fix MRP equivalent to branded drugs and hence the generic drugs do not prove beneficial to the patients, whereas, the benefit should go to the patient.
RTI Information: Information obtained under RTI Act, form Director Health & Family Welfare, Punjab, Chandigarh, reveals that prices of drugs are regulated under Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) 1995 and in this order there is no difference for fixing prices of Generic Drug Formulations and Branded Drug Formulations. The prices under this order are fixed by NPPA (National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority) New Delhi. That in case of generic drugs, brand name is not printed on the label of the drug. In the branded drug formulations, brand name as well as generic name is printed on the label of the drug.
Date:
Thursday, April 2, 2015