Starting April 1, the prices of essential drugs, antibiotics, and painkillers in India are set to increase by 12%, following permission granted to pharmaceutical companies by the central government. This increase is based on the annual Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and marks the highest one-time increase in the prices of medicines under the price control regime since the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) came into existence in 1997. In comparison, the hike was just 0.5% last year and 2% in 2020.
The NPPA, which regulates medicine prices, has indicated that up to 900 drugs with 384 medical molecules included in the National List of Essential Drugs will be affected by this increase. These are currently included in the price control list, and their prices will go up by 12%. Meanwhile, non-scheduled drugs that fall outside the price control regime will increase by 10%.
Notably, this is the second consecutive year that the prices of medicines on the price control list are increasing more than those on the non-scheduled drugs. Pharmaceutical companies can increase price of nonscheduled drugs by 10% annually, but prices of drugs under price control require NPPA approval. Of the total number of medicines sold, 16% come under price control mechanism.
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