Drug price regulator NPPA announced provisional maximum prices for 761 drugs, including anticancer drugs, HIV, diabetes and antibiotics, with a majority being reduced ahead of the GST implementation.
The National Authority for Pharmaceutical Prices (NPPA) said, however, that the real increase or decrease in prices after the launch of the new indirect tax regime is expected to be in the range of 2-3 per cent Cent depending on the states.
"To facilitate the implementation of GST for companies, we have produced the provisional maximum prices of 761 formulations," said NPPA President Bhupendra Singh. He said that the real increase in prices or the decline in prices of medicines after GST would be nominal ranging from 2-3 percent.
NPPA has asked pharmaceutical firms to verify the list and report if there is a need for any correction by June 29. The tax on goods and services will be deployed as of July 1.
As per the provisional list, ceiling price of various cancer drugs like Bortezomib, Docetaxel and Gemcitabine have been reduced.
The price of the Bortezomib ceiling has been set at Rs 11,160.08 per package, down from Rs 11,636.60 currently whereas a package of Docetaxel has been set at Rs 10,326.94 from Rs 10,767.88 these days. Similarly, the price of Gemcitabine will be reduced to Rs 4,813.94 per package from the current Rs 5,019.49. In addition, the drug for treatment of breast cancer trastuzumab injection package has been fixed at Rs 54,582.25 after July 1, from Rs 56,912.83 earlier.
Ceiling price of HIV combination drug of Tenofovir (300mg), Lamivudine (300mg) and Efavirenz (600mg) has been fixed at Rs 89.69 per tablet, down from Rs 93.52 per tablet earlier. Price of single tablet of Diabetes drug Metformin has come down to Rs 3.31 from Rs 3.45 currently. Paracetamol 500 mg tablet cost has been fixed at Re 0.82 from Re 0.85.
Price of one tablet of HIV treatment drug Darunavir has been fixed at Rs 151.4, down from Rs 157.93. Besides cost of one tablet of Lamivudine and Zidovudine combination has been reduced to Rs 18.20 from Rs 18.98 currently. Ceiling price of Eplilespy drug Levetiracetam has also been reduced.
Ceiling price of drug eluting stents will however remain unchanged at Rs 30,180. Ceiling price of Atorvastatin tablets, used to treat hypertension, has also been reduced. Price of one tablet of Entecavir, used to treat Hepatitis B, has come down to Rs 69.44 from Rs 72.40.
Similarly, the ceiling prices of various antibiotics like Azithromycin, Ciprofloxacin, Clarithromycin, Ampicillin, Amoxicillin have also been lowered. Ibuprofen and Imatinib prices are also fixed at a lower slab.
