Drug regulator NPPA approves hike in price of cardiac stents

NEW DELHI: Prices of cardiac stents will increase by 4.2% from April 1 as the drug regulator has allowed a hike in line with the wholesale price index (WPI) of the previous calendar year.

A bare metal stent (BES) will now cost Rs 8261, whereas the price of drug eluting stent (DES) has been fixed at Rs 30,080, as per the new prices notified by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA).

The DES category includes metallic DES and biodegradable stents.

In February last year, the pricing authority had marginally increased the price of BES from Rs 7,260 to Rs 7,660, and reduced prices of drug-eluting and biodegradable stents from Rs 29,600 to Rs 27,890. The revision was then based on revised analysis of data.

In 2017, NPPA slashed prices of stents by around 85% while bringing them under price control for the first time. Bare metal stents were sold for as much as ₹45,000 and drug-eluting stents cost ₹1.21 lakh prior to the imposition of the cap in February 2017.

The regulator had also capped trade margins of these products at 8% along the complete supply chain as the NPPA observed unethical mark-up in fixing the maximum retail price by manufacturers.

NPPA used its extraordinary power of Para 19 of the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) 2013 to cap the price of coronary stents. The NPPA had invoked the Section 3 (i) of the DPCO, restricting companies from bringing down manufacturing and import of stents to ensure there is no shortage of the device.

The authority has not broadened the categories of coronary stents, though there was industry demand for that. The order mentions only two categories of stents.

While multinational firms have been upset with the way cap was imposed, domestic stent manufacturers feel the price made it unviable for them to sustain.

Following the price cap on coronary stents, the share of domestic stentmakers has risen. Preliminary data suggests a 4 per cent shift in favour of domestic manufacturers, officials say.