Question : New Pharmaceutical Policy

Will the Minister of CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has any proposal to bring a new pharmaceutical policy;
(b) if so, the details and the method to fix the price of essential medicines;
(c) the likely impact on the prices of essential medicines due to the new drug policy;
(d) the steps being taken by the Government to ensure that doctors in private clinic are prescribing medicines from the National List of Essential medicines;
(e) whether the Government has taken steps to implement the Supreme Court directive to stick to cost-based pricing formula; and
(f) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS; MINISTRY OF SHIPPING AND MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS (SHRI MANSUKH L. MANDAVIYA)

(a): Yes Madam.
(b): No final decision has been taken as yet.
(c): In view of reply (b) above, does not arise.
(d): The doctors including those operating from private clinics prescribe medicines depending on treatment requirements.
(e) & (f): The Government announced the ‘Pharmaceutical Policy 2002’ in February 2002. However, a public interest litigation filed in the High Court of Karnataka at Bangalore in WP No. 2168 of 2002 resulted in an Order dated 12-11-2002 which stopped the Government from implementing the price control regime of the Pharmaceutical Policy 2002. This Department filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court of India against the Order of the Karnataka High Court. The Supreme Court vide its order dated 10.3.2003 directed the Government, inter-alia, that, “we suspend the operation of the order to the extent it

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directs that the Policy dated 15.2.2002 shall not be implemented. However we direct that the petitioner shall consider and formulate appropriate criteria for ensuring essential and life saving drugs not to fall out of the price control and further directed to review drugs, which are essential and life saving in nature till 2nd May, 2003”.

The Department of Pharmaceuticals had prepared a draft National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy, 2011 (NPPP-2011) based on the criteria of essentiality as per the medicines as under National List of Essential Medicines-2011 (348 drugs with specified dosage and strengths), as stipulated by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare which was placed before the Group of Ministers (GoM). Based on the recommendations of the GoM, National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Policy-2012(NPPP-2012) was formulated and placed before the Cabinet. The Cabinet considered NPPP-2012 in its meeting held on 22.11.2012 and after approval, NPPP-2012 was notified on 07.12.2012.

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