Druggists ask Sharad Pawar to speed up National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy decision

The All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) has written a letter to food and agruiculture minister Sharad Pawar, chairman, group of ministers on the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy, to urgently finalise the new drug-pricing policy that seeks to determine prices at which pharmaceutical companies sell essential medicines in the retail market.

The trade body says this will dispel the uncertainty presently prevailing in the market and benefit patients and the industry at large.

In the letter to Pawar, the trade body has also demanded a market-based drug pricing policy to best address patient needs and balance industry growth as envisioned in the draft NPPP 2011.

According to JS Shinde, president, AIOCD, since a policy decision has been awaiting finalisation for quite some time,  the trade body has requested Pawar to hasten the policy process by pointing out that the general uncertainty in the market.''

The trade body says the weighted average price (WAP) of all brands (having more than 1 per cent market share by volume) is the best formula as it takes into account almost 90 per cent of the cumulative market share under price control (formulations as listed in the NLEM) by value in comparison to around 60 per cent taken of the WAP of top 3 brands.

It says that the WAP under the 'all brands' formula will result in more patient savings on NLEM formulations than the WAP of Top 3 brands formula, besides being the simplest, most balanced, transparent formula.