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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | New pharma policy to focus on cheaper drugs for poor by R Ravichandran

New pharma policy to focus on cheaper drugs for poor by R Ravichandran

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published Published on Dec 20, 2010   modified Modified on Dec 20, 2010

The Centre is expected to announce a new pharma policy in the next few months. The ministry of chemicals and fertilisers has discussed with concerned stakeholders and will seek further inputs on the matter before placing the draft note to a group of ministers (GoM) for final touches, chemicals and fertilisers minister MK Azhagiri said on Wednesday.

Hinting this at a conference on ‘Intellectual Property Rights: Challenges and way forward for the pharmaceutical industry’, the minister said the new pharma policy is being readied and it will be discussed with GoM for feedback before finalising the same. “Parliament session just got over and we need to discuss the same with ministers concerned. I will also speak to the finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on various issues,” Azhagiri told FE.

The ministry has held discussions with the industry and needs to talk further on various issues. “We cannot say when the new policy will be announced at this point of time,” he added.

According to him, the ministry will seek more funds in due course of time. “Our objective is to increase the healthcare expenditure from the current 1% of GDP level to 3% of GDP and beyond to not only create adequate infrastructure with all basic facilities across the country but also ensure availability of the life saving drugs at cheaper costs, particularly to those in the below poverty line,” he said.

Unlike developed countries, out of the total healthcare expenditure, nearly 75% goes towards drugs and medicines, which is very challenging. There is also a huge challenge before us on fixing the drug prices which needs to be addressed. Market strength alone will not help the future growth prospects of the industry.

The ministry will assure the industry that it will help it grow manifold in the next five years and make India the strongest player in the global market. The Indian pharma industry is estimated to be around $20 billion and out of which nearly 40% comes from exports, he said further.

According to Orchid Chemicals CMD K Raghavendra Rao, the government should protect the innovations and patents. It should help the industry, particularly in research and development, to develop more new chemical entities (NCEs) to produce cheaper durgs in India while encouraging more companies to take up such activities. Even small development on the existing drugs should be given patent protection, he added.

Speaking to FE, Tapan Ray, director general of Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI), “Despite there had been efforts to bring in new policy in 2002 and again in 2006, but in vain and we continue to follow 1995 drug policy. I hope the new policy will look into all those aspects, including easy accessibility, making availability of low cost drugs to poor people, insurance protection, infrastructure spread, including primary healthcare centres and patent protection to those SMEs which develop new molecues/entities.”

Ranga Iyer, ex-president of OPPI and an independent advisor of pharma industry, particularly on the IPR side, said: "The main problem is access to medicines and not related to that of prices. Most of the diseases escalate due to lack of infrastructure, primary healthcare centres and lack of doctors. The new policy should aim at putting in place the required infrastructure/spreading of primary healthcare centres and availability of more doctors across various places. The new policy should also ensure different model for different set of population at different rates to ensure inclusivity of healthcare. The `Jan Aushadha' stores to be opened across the country to enable the poor to get medicines at cheaper rates."


The Financial Express, 16 December, 2010, http://financialexpress.com/news/new-pharma-policy-to-focus-on-cheaper-drugs-for-poor/725377/0


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