Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Govt's generic push will dent Rs 90,000-cr branded pharma market -Veena Mani & Aneesh Phadnis

Govt's generic push will dent Rs 90,000-cr branded pharma market -Veena Mani & Aneesh Phadnis

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Apr 24, 2017   modified Modified on Apr 24, 2017
-Business Standard

To make medicines cheaper, in another measure, govt added 200 drug formulations to NLEM list

New Delhi/ Mumbai:
Pharma companies may soon start wooing chemists as the Narendra Modi government plans to make it mandatory for doctors to prescribe pure-generic drugs, instead of branded generics as they do now.

Though the plan was first announced in this year’s Budget, the prime minister spoke about it for the first time at a public event on Monday. The health ministry has now started working on amending the Drugs and Cosmetics Act to this effect.

“Indian patients may face quality issues without price benefit as intense competition among marketers will lead to incentivising a chemist,” says D G Shah, secretary-general of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance.

India, like most of other emerging markets, is predominantly a branded generics play with a 90 per cent share in the Rs 1-lakh-crore market. Which means that drug makers sell these off-patent drugs through their relationships with doctors. In developed countries such as the US, only patented drugs are sold under a brand, which is marketed through their ties to doctors. Off-patent drugs are sold only as pure generic, without using any brand name. It helps in making pure generics cheaper.

It is this nexus between the branded generic makers and doctors that the Modi government wants to break, to bring down the prices for drugs. Last time the government had attempted something like this was under the Janta Party government in 1978. Then, the idea was shelved after the pharma industry challenged the order in court.

Sujay Shetty, partner at consultancy firm PwC, said such a plan would be very difficult to implement. “With so many generic drug makers, how does one make a distinction based on quality.”

This is not the only move the government has taken to bring down the prices of pharma products. It has also brought about 200 drug formulations, including those for treating cancer, under the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), taking the number of such drugs to 716. With this, the government was able to bring down the price of cancer drugs by up to 85 per cent.  

Please click here to read more.




Business Standard, 24 April, 2017, http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/govt-s-generic-push-will-dent-rs-90-000-cr-branded-pharma-market-117042400066_1.html


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close