GUWAHATI: The prices of over 900 essential medicines, including those used for the treatment of infections, diabetes, and heart diseases, have been increased by 1.74% from Tuesday, April 1. This annual price revision is based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and is implemented by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA).
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The NPPA, which regulates the pricing of medicines in India, announced that manufacturers of scheduled formulations can increase the maximum retail price (MRP) based on the WPI without prior government approval. The WPI for 2024 has been calculated at 1.74028%, which is significantly higher than the previous year’s 0.00551%.
Ceiling prices have been revised for several commonly used drugs. The cost of azithromycin, a widely used antibiotic, will be ₹11.87 and ₹23.98 per tablet for its 250 mg and 500 mg variants, respectively. Similarly, amoxicillin and clavulanic acid dry syrups will have a ceiling price of ₹2.09 per ml. The antiviral acyclovir will cost ₹7.74 and ₹13.90 per tablet for its 200 mg and 400 mg versions. The price of hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug, will be ₹6.47 and ₹14.04 per tablet for 200 mg and 400 mg dosages, respectively.
Painkillers will also see price adjustments. Diclofenac tablets will now have a ceiling price of ₹2.09 per tablet, while ibuprofen will be priced at ₹0.72 and ₹1.22 per tablet for 200 mg and 400 mg versions, respectively. Diabetes medications, such as the combination of dapagliflozin, metformin hydrochloride (extended release), and glimepiride, will be priced at approximately ₹12.74 per tablet.
The NPPA has also revised prices for around 1,000 medicines included in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM). The NLEM consists of drugs necessary for treating a wide range of health conditions, including anaesthesia, cardiovascular diseases, allergies, and neurological disorders. The list, first introduced in 1996, is periodically updated to accommodate changes in disease prevalence, the emergence of new therapies, and the removal of obsolete drugs. The latest revision in 2022 brought the number of essential medicines to 384, with 34 new additions and 26 deletions.
The price revision also applies to coronary stents. As per the NPPA’s latest notification, bare-metal stents will now have a ceiling price of ₹10,692.69, while drug-eluting stents, including bioresorbable vascular scaffolds, will be priced at ₹38,933.14. Manufacturers and importers of coronary stents with MRPs lower than the revised ceiling price, plus applicable Goods and Services Tax (GST), may adjust their prices based on the WPI increase.
The NPPA determines the ceiling prices of drugs in the NLEM by calculating the average price of all brands with a market share of more than 1% and adding a marginal retailer markup. Additionally, while prices of non-scheduled medicines are not directly controlled, their annual price increase cannot exceed 10%.
The mechanism for increasing drug prices is based on the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO), 2013, which mandates that the prices of scheduled drugs under the NLEM are revised annually in accordance with the WPI. The NPPA calculates the ceiling price by averaging the price of all brands with a market share of more than 1% and adding a small margin for retailers. Unlike scheduled drugs, non-scheduled medicines are not strictly controlled, but their price increase is capped at 10% per year. This framework ensures that while manufacturers can adjust prices to account for inflation and production costs, essential medicines remain accessible to the public.
