The government may negotiate prices of patented medicines with their manufacturers before allowing pharmaceutical companies to launch them in India. The move, a first of its kind, is also likely to be applied on patented drugs that are already being sold in the country, an official source said. An inter-ministerial committee, evaluating the mechanism to negotiate prices of patented medicines, has recently sought detailed information about such drugs from the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) , which regulates prices of medicines in the country.
This include data on number of patented medicines currently available in India, their market share, prices, disease burden, date of grant of patent and its expiry. The move is significant because it is expected to bring down prices of many medicines mostly used in treatment of life threatening diseases such as cancer, HIV/AIDS…
