E-drug: Wrong evaluation of Indian drug price control
---------------------------------------------
Dear Friends,
I could not resist myself from reacting to the statement of Dr. Ranjit
Roy Choudhury, President, Delhi Medical Council published in Indian
Express 12 March, 2001.
He stated that dismantling of control of prices will lead to
unprecedented price rise, is unfounded. He also stated that their might
be a small rise in the prices of medicine at beginning, the costs will
not escalate to an extent that common man cannot afford it. He
attributes the reasons of keeping prices steady is cut-throat
competition. His noble wisdom is 'The market forces will ensure that the
health and the interests of the consumer do not suffer'. He believes
'that the best way to regulate prices and ensure cheaper medicines in
deregulation and we should go in for it as soon as possible'.
I react to this following
a.. Even with existing slender control of drugs, price rise has been
enormous. During last four years 1996-2000 prices of antitubercular
drugs rose to 120%, antileprotics drugs 300%, cardiovascular drugs
120% and many more can be sited. In our data bank we keep track of
prices of nearly 400 brands of drugs in different therapeutic groups.
In every group price rise is very high.
b.. All new patented drugs introduced in India cost high.
Antiinflammatory drugs cost Rs.5/- each tablet, cardiovascular drugs
cost Rs.30/- each tablets, antiinfective drugs Rs 50/- each tablet.
Already it has become difficult to bear the expenses of therapy by the
common man. Price high raise will be imminent if complete deregulation
is effected.
c.. The role of market forces in self regulation in pharmaceutical
market in India is quite disappointing. Prices differ very much among
the brands of same drug of same dosage. Some examples are -
Azithromycin 250 mg =96 6 tablets
Cost of Pfizer =91s brand [Rs]234.00
Cost of Bell Pharma=91s brand [Rs]90.00
Cefoparazone 1 g Inj
Cost of Cadila =91s brand [Rs] 250.00
Cost of Panacea =91s brand [Rs] 170.00
Amlodipin 5 gm =96 10 tablets
Cost of Pfizer =91s brand [Rs]48.13
Cost of Kopran =91s brand [Rs]7.00
Ceftriaxone 1 g
Cost of Alkem =91s brand [Rs]165.00
Cost of Merck =91s brand [Rs]50.00
The list can be expanded to hundreds of brands. Even the Drug Price
Review Committee setup by the Government expressed concern on this
phenomenon.
a.. It is surprising to hear from a person involved with World
Health Organization[WHO] work for so many years expressing exactly
like a Chairperson of a multi-national company that de-regulation is
the
only way to reduce drug prices. Where has it happened? Most of the
developed countries have regulatory control on prices of drugs. Why our
country should give up control on drug prices.
I request debate / opinion on this subject.
Amiitava Guha, CDMU Documentation Centre
India
cdmudocu@vsnl.com
--
Send mail for the `E-Drug' conference to `e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.
Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'.
For additional assistance, send mail to: `owner-e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.