NPPA raises prices of several critical medicines

50% ONE-TIME HIKE TO BENEFIT PFIZER, CIPLA, ZYDUS, BHARAT SERUM

- MANU KAUSHIK

CITING SUPPLY-CHAIN disruptions and price hikes in raw materials of critical drugs, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) on Friday relaxed its price control rules, and allowed drug companies to substantially raise prices for a set of essential cancer drugs and vaccines.

The regulator said the higher prices are necessary for the continued production and uninterrupted supply of these critical therapies.

Through its extraordinary powers under Paragraph 19 of the Drug Prices Control Order, 2013, the NPPA allowed a one-time 50% increase in ceiling prices of two cancer drugs — carboplatin and cisplatin — citing sharp increases in their active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) prices in recent years and currency exchange rates. Pfizer, Cipla, Alkem, and Zydus Healthcare are among the firms that sell these medicines in India.

In another order, NPPA granted a similar 50% one-time increase in the prices of anti-tetanus immunoglobulin injections, raising the ceiling price of the 250 IU vial to ₹1,912 and the 500 IU vial to ₹2,881.2.