Question : Availability of Coronary Stents

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

(a) whether the Government has recently slashed the price of coronary stents and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the Government has received any complaint regarding non-availability of stents after the reduction in prices and if so, the details thereof, State-wise along with the steps taken to ensure availability of stents in the market;

(c) whether there are reports that the manufacturers of stents are trying to create an artificial scarcity of bare metal and drugeluting stents and if so, the reaction of the Government thereto; and

(d) whether the manufacturers and importers of the stents have agreed to arrange necessary stock of the item and if so, the details thereof?

(a) to (d): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

Statement referred to in reply to LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION No. *165 to be answered on the 14th March, 2017 regarding Availability of Coronary Stents
(a) to (d): National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Authority (NPPA) notified the ceiling price of Coronary Stent vide its notification dated 13th February 2017 at INR 7,260/- for Bare Metal Stent and INR 29,600/- for Drug Eluting Stents (DES) including metallic DES and Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffold (BVS)/ Biodegradable Stents. The average MRP before this notification was INR 45,100 for Bare Metal Stent (BMS) and INR 121,400 for Drug Eluting Stent (DES). Price regulation has brought down the prices of stents (BMS 74% and DES 85%).

No actionable complaint regarding shortage of Coronary Stents in the market has been received by Government so far. However, Government through NPPA is closely monitoring the situation and has alerted the State Governments and State Drugs Controllers to monitor the availability of stents. NPPA has also requested aggrieved persons to send verifiable information/complaints on help line number of NPPA, through online complaint mechanism (Pharma Jan Samadhan) or on Whatsapp. Industry has been apprised that all manufactures/importers are under legal obligation to maintain smooth production and supply of coronary stents of all brands which were available in the country before price cap.

NPPA has not received any report/references indicating that the manufacturers of stents are trying to create an artificial scarcity of bare metal and drug eluting stents. Even though, all State Governments and State Drug Controllers have been advised to exercise the power of entry, search and seizure as per Para 30 of Drug Price Control Order,2013 (DPCO, 2013) if manufacturers/importers/distributors try to create artificial shortage of stents. NPPA is regularly interacting with the manufacturers/importers in this regard and stent companies have assured to maintain the required level of availability.

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