New Delhi, 16th November 2022: The new National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), which was announced by the Union Health Ministry in September has now been brought under the Drug Prices Control Order, which sets ceiling prices for these essential formulations based on average cost to retailers.
On November 11, the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, which is in charge of upholding the pricing cap, published a gazette notification.
34 new critical medications introduced under NLEM will now be subject to a price cap. The NLEM has 384 medicines after the inclusions.
The average price paid by retailers for all generic drugs and branded generic drugs with a market share of more than 1% is calculated to determine the ceiling price, and it is then increased by a small retailer margin. The price of more recent diabetes treatments, like the medication Teneligliptin and the insulin Glargine, both of which were added to the list for 2022, is likely to decrease as a result of this revision.
More anti-cancer treatments have been added to the list, such as Bendamustine Hydrochloride, which is used to treat certain types of blood and lymph node cancers, Irinotecan HCI Trihydrate, which is used alone or in combination with other medications to treat colorectal and pancreatic cancers, Lenalidomide, which is used to treat a variety of cancers, and Leuprolide Acetate, which is used to treat prostate cancer.
The notification explained that any dosage or form of a drug with the same activity would fall under the price ceiling after the revised schedule. Even if not specifically mentioned in the schedule, similar salts, analogs of an active ingredient, or vaccines made using different processes would be subject to price control.
The notification read, “Medical innovation must be promoted. Only if they are specifically listed in the list next to any medicine should formulations created through incremental innovation or novel drug delivery systems, such as lipid/liposomal formulations, be taken into consideration as included.
In addition to the vaccines already covered by the government’s universal immunization program, the recently published DPCO amendment notification states that as and when vaccines such as pneumococcal and HPV (the human papillomavirus that causes cervical cancer) are added to the immunization program, their prices will also be brought under control.