Indian Pharma cuts 886 drug prices

The Indian government has said that prices of 886 drug brands have been voluntarily reduced by the parmaceutical industry in a 0.26%-74.5% range. The medicines include top selling antidiabetic drugs, antibiotics, cough syrups, painkillers and anti-hypertensives.

These drugs, manufactured on or after October 2 this year, may take up to six weeks to reach the retailers with the new price tags, a government statement note, in that the industry has capped the margin for wholesalers and retailers at between 15% and 35%.

However, analysts said the price cuts have a limited significance since the 886 brands constitute only 10% of drugs by volume and hardly 5%-7% by value in the 350.0 billion rupee ($7.81 billion) Indian pharmaceutical market. Prices of drugs affected include those of antidiabetic agents like metformin, glucosamine, progesterone, the anti-infectives amoxicillin, cephalexin and ciprofloxacin and painkillers such as diclofenac, ibuprofen, paracetamol and promethazine.