Essential medicines like painkillers, anti-infectives, medicines for heart patients and antibiotics manufactured from April 1 are set to be costlier after the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) cleared a 10.8 per cent increase in their prices on Friday.
Bengaluru pharmacists say patients will feel the pinch as this price hike will be passed on to consumers.
The price rise will affect the rates of around 850 scheduled formulations.
Harish Jain, president, Karnataka Drugs and Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (KDPMA), told DH that this is the highest hike announced for scheduled drugs.
“Non-scheduled drugs are allowed an annual increase of 10 per cent. This is the first time the scheduled drug price hike has exceeded that of non-schedule ones. In 2021, the increase was only 0.53 per cent, while in 2020 it was 1.88 per cent. NPPA will notify the ceiling prices of the scheduled formulations over the next few days,” he said.
It usually takes a minimum of two to three weeks for drugs manufactured in April with revised MRP to hit the market. Despite the sharp hike, KDPMA is not happy as it had sought a 20 per cent hike.
“We have supply chain challenges in sourcing active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) from across the globe. India is totally dependent on China for APIs. Close to 70 per cent comes from there. The API price for paracetamol, for example, was Rs 250 a kg pre-pandemic but costs Rs 700 now.
Prices of solvents like glycerine and propylene glycol, input plastic, metal and paper have gone up because of which we had asked for a one-time increase of 20 per cent which the government refused,” he said.
A K Jeevan, general secretary, Karnataka State Chemists’ and Druggists’ Association who runs a pharmacy in Madikeri said this will affect patients suffering from diabetes, heart ailments and chronic conditions.
“Fever may persist only for five days and antipyretics may be a one-time purchase. But 50 per cent of our drug sales are those meant for diabetics,” Jeevan said.
Echoing the view, Jain said long term consumers like cardiac and cancer patients are likely to be affected the most.
“Metformin is a basic sugar control tablet which will be costlier. Diltiazem used to treat high blood pressure will be dearer too. Clopidogrel is used to reduce the risk of heart disease. It is used together with aspirin in heart attacks. Paracetamol will also be costlier. Levothyroxine, used to treat thyroid, and Carbamazepine used to treat seizures will be priced higher too,” Jain said.
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