Question : PRICE CONTROL OF MEDICINES



(a) whether the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority has decided to take benefit of the experience of other countries in the price control of medicines in the country;

(b) if so, the details of officers belonging to the said authority who have gone on foreign tours for the said purpose alongwith the names of the countries visited by them;

(c) whether the officers have prepared any concrete proposal;and

(d) if so,the outlines of the proposals prepared concerning to each country visited by them?

Answer given by the minister


THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF MINES(SHRI B.K. HANDIQUE)

(a)to(d): National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has started to study the experience of other countries in the field of pricing and regulatory framework for affordable medicines to see whether benefit can be taken from their experience or not.Shri Pradeep Mehra,Ex-Member Secretary, NPPA and L.M. Kaushal,Director (Monitoring),NPPA visited France,United Kingdom and Israel in May 2006 to study pricing and monitoring mechanisms for medicines in these countries.Shri Arun Jha, Member Secretary,NPPA also visited Luxembourg,Brussels and Amsterdam in March,2007 together with the officials of Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals for exploring opportunities in the Pharmaceutical and Plastic Sector in these countries.The officers who visited abroad have submitted their tour reports.