Govt starts pricing talks on drugs, med devices with pharma bodies

Mumbai: The government kicked off a consultative exercise on Tuesday to review the working of the drug price control order (DPCO) with the pharma and medical device industry.

Several controversial issues, including pricing of patented drugs, rationalisation of trade margins, adopting a uniform code of practices and patient support programmes were discussed, industry sources said.

Officials from the Department of Pharmaceuticals and National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority led the talks. There was considerable consensus that a graded Trade Margin Rationalisation (TMR) was needed, with “higher margin for those who are importing and assembling in India”, in order to equate Indian manufacturers with those overseas, suggested the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry.

Discussions will be held with other stakeholders, including patient groups, over the next few months.