The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has notified that the retail price of health and over-the-counter (OTC) products (non-drugs) including probiotics and disinfectant, nutritional products, food supplements, baby milk and foods, medicated cosmetics, medicated soaps and medicated shampoos could not be increased over and above the maximum retail already fixed under the Drug Act 1976. The authority has notified the enlistment/registration as Health and OTC products to the applicants of such drugs.
According to the Drug Regulatory Authority, it has been clarified that applications for enlistment of products already registered under the Drug Act 1976 will not be entertained on the ground that the product is being registered under the Drug Act 1976. Such products shall continue to be imported, manufactured and sold on the same terms and conditions stipulated under the Drug Act 1976 and rule framed there under. Similarly retail price of such products could not be increased over and above the maximum retail already fixed under the said Act.
Sources said that about 1200 applications of different pharmaceutical companies are pending with DRAP seeking an increase in the price of their life saving drugs which is about 10000 in number. They said that the application submitted in 2010 is yet to be entertained. Under the new Drug Policy, the government has developed a process of automation of drug pricing mechanism and from July 2016, drug prices will be automatically adjusted according to the changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This mechanism will bring stability in the industry as well as in price of drugs.
According to the new drug policy drug prices would remain frozen until June 30, 2016, at the current approved level. After this date, the annual increase in the prices of scheduled drugs would be restricted to 50 per cent of the CPI, with a cap of 4 per cent on scheduled drugs (life saving) and 70 percent in non-scheduled drugs (all others) of CPI with a cap of 6 per cent.
A divisional bench of Sindh High Court (SHC) on March 11, 2015 gave a ruling suspending the freeze on drug prices after the petition filed by Pharma Bureau Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) and Pakistan Chemist and Druggist Association (PCDA). The Court suspended section 7 of new drug pricing policy formulated by DRAP and approved by Economic Co-ordination Committee termed it unconstitutional and an attempt to circumvent an existing adjunction granted by SHC in a related matter. Section 7 is a clause which provides retrospective freezing of prices of drugs from October 31, 2013 to July 1, 2016.
Comments
Comments are closed.