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Pharma pricing regulator cuts stent prices by up to 85 pc
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SME Times News Bureau | 15 Feb, 2017
In a major measure of relief to cardiac patients in India, the
government on Tuesday fixed the ceiling price of coronary stents which
are used to open up blocked arteries.
The National Pharmaceutical
Pricing Authority, in a notification, put a ceiling price on drug
eluting stents (DES) and bioresorbable stents at Rs 29,600, and that of
bare metal stents at Rs 7,260, effective from Tuesday. The ceiling price
excludes local taxes.
The cost of a drug eluting stent currently
ranges between Rs 24,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh, and that of a bioresorbable
stent is between Rs 1.7 lakh to Rs 2 lakh. A bare metal stent costs
between Rs 7,000 and Rs 20,000.
NPPA said it had consulted with various stakeholders on the matter.
"During
deliberations, it was found that huge unethical markups are charged at
each stage in the supply chain of coronary stents resulting in
irrational, restrictive and exorbitant prices in a failed market system
driven by information asymmetry between the patient and doctors pushing
patients to financial misery," an NPPA notification said.
The
NPPA also said that a stent could cost the patient over ten times more
by the time it moved from the manufacturer to the patient.
In
July 2016, the Union Health Ministry had, through a notification,
included coronary stents under the National List of Essential Medicines
(NLEM). Drugs and devices listed in the NLEM have to be sold at the
price fixed by NPPA. This was after the Delhi High Court sought
government action on a public interest litigation (PIL) appeal seeking
price control on stents.
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