The pharmaceutical industry has decided unilaterally to increase the prices of drugs by 18 percent after talks on drugs' prices mechanism with the National Health Services, Regulation and Co-ordination failed.
A letter of Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) to its members states "Through the instant circular, PPMA seeks to inform you of the accord that reached in the aforesaid '4th Policy Board Meeting', and the member companies may individually avail this interim increase up to 18 percent with immediate effect. Members are requested to intimate DRAP about the price increase (where applicable) through submission of a revised price list of their products with a copy to the PPMA."
"We refer to various meetings of the office-bearers of PPMA with the Secretary, NHS, R&C, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) and Director (Pricing) on the above subject. In the 4th Policy Board Meeting held on October 23, 2013 it was accepted by the PPMA on behalf of the National Pharmaceutical Industry/Member Companies that till the finalisation of Drug Pricing Policy the interim inflationary impact will be adjusted by all the pharmaceutical companies up-to a maximum of 18 percent increase in MRP of all registered drugs, the letter added.
In another letter written to Secretary Ministry of NHS, the PPMA states, "The National Pharmaceutical Industry is thankful to you for realizing that the only solution for all drug pricing issues is to finalise a drug pricing policy and appreciates the interim inflationary impact increase at the rate of 18 percent for all registered drugs till such time the Drug Pricing Policy is finalised. The decision was communicated to PPMA by you in a meeting dated 22.10.2013 when the office-bearers of PPMA and Pharma Bureau called upon you for finalisation of the Drug Pricing Policy and various ancillary matters. In a follow up meeting, on the same day, your good selves, CEO DRAP, Director Pricing and Director Registration were also present wherein it was announced 18 percent increase for all registered drugs." The said decision has been duly conveyed by PPMA to all its members for individually effecting price increase up to 18 percent vide PPMA Circular No 193/2013 dated November 8, 2013, it added.
Khawaja Javed Akbar, Secretary General/Executive Director PPMA when contacted said that the government had assured the pharma industry of allowing 10 percent increase in drug prices as an interim relief, but when the industry, a few days ago, requested the secretary Ministry of NHS to issue a formal notification in this connection, the secretary instead of accepting PPMA's request asked it to wait for another couple of weeks. He said that as per DRAP calculation, inflationary impact on the manufacturing of different drugs is 94.35 percent and the government agreed with pharma industry that it will give an interim relief to the industry by allowing an increase of 18 percent.
The industry has been pressing authorities to allow almost 100 percent increase in the prices of pharma products in absence of a national drug policy. Since 2001, the government has not allowed PPMA to increase drug prices as a result the industry is on the verge of collapse, Javed said.
Meanwhile, President Health Watch, Mian Aftab, in a statement condemned the drug price hike by the PPMA. He observed that the prices of drugs in Pakistan were already high as compare to the neighbouring countries and the recent increase will make life difficult for millions using lifesaving and commonly-used medicines. "The masses will have to bear around Rs 100 billion per annum additional expenditures on healthcare," he said and added the PPMA has already written a letter to its members asking them to increase prices, which is unjustified and violation of laws.
He said that in this era of double digit inflation, the government should not allow increase in prices of drugs used to treat common ailments like flue, fever, malaria and diarrhea. The government's failure to finalise a national drug policy has enormously benefitted the drug manufacturers and is badly hurting consumers as the country is not likely to have the policy soon and the prices will be increased arbitrarily, he noted.