Govt asks NPPA to re-fix ceiling prices of three essential drugs

Abbott Healthcare which has been selling the Phenytoin drug under the brand name Eptoin had filed the review application against NPPA ceiling price on June 10 this year. The application was filed with DoP. It said that while calculating the ceiling price, the NPPA also included “Phenytoin (ZYDUS) Sodium 100mg tablet 100 of Zydus Cadila”. It told the DoP that Zydus Cadila, however, had stopped manufacturing the medicine one-two years ago.

The DoP, after hearing both the sides, said: “NPPA is hereby directed to examine the case by verifying from Zydus Cadila and Pharmatrac, and to re-fix the ceiling price of Phenytoin 100 mg tablet, on merit.” The NPPA uses the data of Pharmatrac, a leading market intelligence agency, for its calculations and fixing the ceiling price of any drug. The review application for Propanolol was also filed by Abbott Healthcare on June 27. The company told the DoP that “CIPLAR LA 40mg Tablets 15” — which is the brand name of Cipla’s Propanolol — has not been considered by NPPA while calculating the ceiling price. Therefore, the real ceiling price should be around Rs 2.86 per tablet. The NPPA had set the ceiling price at Rs 2.59 per tablet on June 2. Consequently, on October 6, the DoP directed the NPPA to examine all the relevant data/information furnished by the Abbott Healthcare “again on merits and to re-fix the ceiling price of Propanolol 40mg tablets within one month”. Abbott has been selling the drug under the brand name “Inderal”.

Alkem Labs had filed the review application on ceiling price for Cefotaxime on June 7. The company sells Cefotaxime under the brand name “Taxim”. The company told the DoP that NPPA should not have applied the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) while calculating the ceiling price for this drug. Consequently, DoP, in its October 6 ruling, said: “NPPA is hereby directed to re-fix and re-notify the price of the products of the petitioner company (Alkem Labs) … by taking the correct data … and without applying WPI change in ascertaining the ceiling price. The same principles should be applied to all other such cases also by NPPA.”