NEW DELHI: In a move that may bring down prices of some widely used essential drugs, the government has revised the National List of Essential Medicines, adding 39 new ones under the list for proposed price cap, a source said. Those that have been added to the list include drugs to fight cancer, diabetes, tuberculosis and HIV apart from some antivirals.
The government has also deleted 16 drugs from the existing list and the final NLEM 2021 now contains 399 essential medicines, up from 376 drugs that are currently under direct price control.
The revised list, prepared by an expert committee under the Indian Council of Medical Research, was submitted to health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday. Once the list is notified by the health ministry, it will be evaluated by the Standing Committee on Affordable Medicines and Health Products (SCAMHP) to assess which of the medicines require price capping.
The final price capping will be done by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority based on the recommendations of the SCAMHP, headed by Niti Aayog member-health Dr V K Paul.
Those that have been added to the list include drugs to fight cancer, diabetes, tuberculosis and HIV apart from some antivirals.
