Stent price control: 5 reasons why ‘high-end stent’ companies might still hope

As the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) gets down to revisiting the prices of stents and discussing their makers' grievances in February, here are five reasons why multinational stent companies selling relatively high-end products can still hope. 'All stents made equal' argument reopened to debate? According to a Mint newspaper report, the NPPA  requested a …

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Is self-regulation in #medtech doomed to fail?

The offer by needle and syringe manufacturers to voluntarily cap trade margins at 75 per cent after meeting with the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority apparently validates the view that without the actionable threat of price control, the healthcare sector cannot be trusted to self-regulate. “The NPPA advised manufacturers to consider regulating price themselves; otherwise, the …

Why the government wants to cap trade margins on drugs and why it shouldn’t

The abnormally high margin that trade channels are believed to earn on a relatively small portion of the Indian pharmaceutical market has become the latest painpoint for the central government. The  margins in question even cross 1000 per cent in some cases, according to a new report by a committee set up by the Department …

India #Pharma 2014 : A quick look back. Part Three #pricing #nppa

The holiday season approaches, so here’s a quick look at the year that was for Indian Pharma, before we disappear into a haze of year-end festivities. It’s a mixed bag (what year isn’t?) including stuff that could influence the way things work in the years ahead. For convenience, I’ve divided up what I think are …

Indian #pharma policy : Missing the wood for the trees

The latest round of price interventions imposed on the drug industry by India's National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has the industry fulminating. Just when it was recovering from being all but snubbed in the Union Budget, it finds that the NPPA has quietly pulled the rug from under its feet leaving it sprawled on the …

India’s new drug pricing policy : will data be the stumbling block?

On December 7, India's National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy 2012 was finally tabled in Parliament. Assuming that this policy does get rolled out irrespective of a Supreme Court hearing on drug pricing playing out in parallel, the cornerstone of the policy i.e.data may create some vexing issues. The Policy envisages fixing ceiling prices of specified strengths …

Abbott at number one : concerns about rising drug prices

Abbott's acquisition of Piramal's Indian branded drugs unit has raised the spectre of rising prices in some quarters. The reasons are two-fold : one, Abbott will pay Rs 17,000 crore for a Rs 2000 crore business and the need to earn a decent return on this will make it raise drug prices. And two, Abbott now …