Indian essential drugs' price curbs "must stay"

India's Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, which oversees thepharmaceutical industry, has backed Health Minister C P Thakur's call for the retention of price controls on essential life-saving drugs under the new drug policy, which is expected to be announced in parliament's monsoon session, starting July.

Government sources say Dr Thakur has written to the Ministry stating that prices of essential drugs such as ciprofloxacin, nemofloxacin, paracetamol, tetracycline and streptomycin should stay controlled, as should all antibiotics, corticosteroids, analgesics, anti-inflammatories and treatments for diabetes, tuberculosis and malaria. However, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority and the Finance Ministry want to reduce the number of controlled drugs (Marketletter May 14).

The Health Ministry has listed 173 drugs which it says should be price-controlled, taking account of natural disasters like India's worst-ever earthquake in Gujarat in January, and the supercyclone that hit Orissa about two years ago. It also proposes price controls on essential, life-saving drugs which are generally imported during such disasters, the sources note.