NPPA caps prices of 43 more medicines

National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has capped prices of 43 medicines, including antibiotic ciprofloxacin, BCG vaccine and anti-diabetic drug metformin, to make them affordable for the common man.

Major drug companies, including Cipla, Ranbaxy, Lupin and Cadila, are likely to be impacted. The drug price regulator said that manufacturers of these drugs having maximum retail price higher than the ceiling price specified shall revise the MRP to an amount not exceeding the ceiling price plus local taxes wherever applicable in accordance with paragraph 13 (1) and 24 of the Drug Prices Control Order, 2013.

"This is a straight-forward, most predictable, overdue action which has been done by us," a NPPA official said requesting anonymity. These medicines join the list of 348 drugs deemed essential and are therefore subject to price caps covering up to 30 per cent of the total drugs sold.

An official at the Department of Pharmaceuticals confirmed the price cap move , but declined to give details. The recommendations will be sent to health ministry by mid-October, he said. Global and Indian drugmakers have been hit by wide-ranging government-imposed price reductions in the last one year in India.