New Delhi: The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) is looking at fixing the ceiling prices of over 200 scheduled formulations under the Revised Schedule I of the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013 based on the price database for the month of October, 2023.
The Authority has so far fixed the ceiling prices under the revised Schedule I of the DPCO, which was amended last year replacing the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), 2015 with the NLEM, 2022, notified by the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) on November 11, 2022.
When the NPPA announced its methodology for the revision of prices based on the revised Schedule I, in November, 2022, it decided that data for July, 2022 and Pharmatrac database of July, 2022 shall be considered for fixation of ceiling prices under the latest NLEM.
Till December 15, 2023, the Authority has fixed ceiling prices of 700 formulations under the NLEM 2022, using the market database for the month of July, 2022, with around 225 formulations remaining to be fixed with revised ceiling prices, according to official data.
The Authority, in its recent meeting held on December 15, considered a proposal for fixation of ceiling prices for the remaining formulations based on data available in the market database for the month of October, 2023.
“The proposal regarding fixation of remaining ceiling price under NLEM, 2022 using the database of October, 2023 was deliberated in the Authority and it was decided that the matter may be examined further and placed in the next Authority meeting,” said the Authority.
It may be noted that the scheduled formulations for which the ceiling prices were already fixed before the beginning of the current fiscal year underwent a correction following the implementation of revision of prices based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) of 12.1218 from April 1, 2023.
The Authority has in November, 2022 said that the ceiling price fixing and revision exercise would see new prices fixed for around 954 formulations in total, comprising 388 medicines in total, based on the database from the market research firm Pharmatrac for the month of July, 2022.
While the general practice is that the ceiling prices are fixed considering the market-based data for fixing the ceiling price of schedule formulation due to revision in the First Schedule shall be the data available for the month ending immediately before six months of notification of revision in the first schedule, the Authority used the data from July, 2022, paying heed to the representations of the industry associations.
The associations requested the Authority not to consider the data of April, 2022, which is six months prior to the date of notification of the revised Schedule 1, since it may not completely reflect the current Price to Retailer (PTR)/Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of formulations. This is considering that the ceiling prices were revised based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) of 10.8 percent based on the WPI notification issued on March 30, 2022 for scheduled formulations.
The industry also stated that the market-based data to be considered for ceiling price fixation should be post implementation of revised prices for products considering the potential time lag for implementation with regard to imported formulations. They requested the NPPA to consider the latest month data, which is of October or September, 2022.
There are also provisions in the amended DPCO that for fixing or revising the ceiling price for formulations, the Government may, if it is necessary to do so, consider market based data available for any month, as deemed fit.
While the total unique formulations for which ceiling prices are to be fixed through the move are around 819, in view of the expansions to the revised Schedule 1 and others, the number of formulations may increase beyond 954 formulations to around 1000 formulations, said the Authority.
