E-DRUG: Generics reduce drug prices in India
-------------------------------------------
[Copied as fair use]
How generics in India have reduced drug prices.
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?250525
healthcare: drug prices
There Is A cure
Chittorgarh shows the way to affordable healthcare: generic drugs at cost price
Pragya Singh
How Chittorgarh Did It
- Orders passed saying doctors in government hospitals must prescribe generic medicines only
- Strict checks to ensure only generic drugs are prescribed unless absolutely necessary; ad campaign too
- Cooperative asked to procure generic medicines and supply them through a network of 16 stores
- Tenders invited by the cooperative, most bids far lower than currently retailing. Pre-selected companies allowed to bid.
Despite a long history of battles and a still-intact fort, dusty, small-town Chittorgarh doesn't quite look like a place where revolutions still happen. But thanks to a project that started last July, this hilly district in south Rajasthan has quietly overthrown the prevailing regime of high-priced medicines - a key failure of India's healthcare system. In its stead, it has introduced another that dramatically lowers the cost of drugs, making access to healthcare easier for even the very poor. The usual 'medical shops' that sell at maximum retail price still exist, but in 16 stores run by the Central Cooperative Bank essential medicines are being supplied as part of a 'Generic Drugs Initiative' - prices here are 40-50, sometimes 90 per cent lower.
Chittorgarh is among the 50 worst performing districts on the human development index, with poverty widespread and access to social services dismal at best. It's in this milieu that the cooperative stores have come forward to sell generic versions of hundreds (564 to be precise) of drugs. The stores have opened near hospitals and, no surprises, patients are flocking to them. So much so, the administration now believes there is room for a further drop in prices.
Another round of price cuts may sound far-fetched - the popular stress relief medicine Diazepam, for instance, already sells at the cooperative store for Rs 2.48 per injection instead of the usual Rs 21. Similarly, the price of a two-day supply of the blood pressure-regulating drug, Simvastatin, has gone down from Rs 120 to less than Rs 35. The cooperatives manage the price cuts because they sell only generic versions: copies of drugs whose patents have expired. The law says once the patent expires on a medicine, any drug company can manufacture it. Without the associated R&D, marketing and advertising costs, generics can retail at far lower prices.
N.C. Saxena, who assists on UNICEF health and access projects, says that 'unlike the rest of the country where regulating drug prices has become a very difficult task, the Chittorgarh model shows how much a government can achieve if it decides to make cheaper medicines accessible'. But it's not always about prices, for many patients have doubts about the efficacy of generics. At the same time, for Indians 80 per cent of healthcare spends come out of their own pocket, and most of this goes for medicines. For Dr Samit Sharma, Chittorgarh district collector since July 2008, it was imperative that change happened in both areas.