In an effort to decrease pharmaceutical firms profiteering, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has announced that the ceiling price of off-patent pharmaceuticals will be cut by 50%. The action is predicted to significantly impact businesses because the NPPA has removed their ability to lower rates on their own.

It further said that in the situation of Fixed dose combinations (FDC) when one component is no longer patentable, the ceiling price would be updated by lowering the current ceiling price by 50%.

According to the notification, "the retail price of the new drug shall be arrived at by reducing fifty percent."

The change is anticipated to have the greatest impact on Johnson and Johnsons anti-TB medicine, Bedaquiline. The action would drastically lower the pricing of patented pharmaceuticals on the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM).

Patented medications such as anti-TB bedaquiline and delamanid, anti-HIV Dolutegravir, and anti-hepatitis C have been included in NLEM for the first time. A member of the pharmaceutical lobby stated that this would, make many drugs cheaper.

(Source:https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/pharma/prices-of-drugs-going-off-patent-to-be-slashed-to-50/100196607?utm_source=Mailer&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=ethealth_news_2023-05-13&dt=2023-05-13)