Cardiac stents shall continue to be available at Fixed price assures NPPA chairman

Chairman NPPA has assured the patients of consistent availability of cardiac stents at prices stipulated as per the government price fixation notification. In February National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) had passed an order slashing the prices of cardiac stents in India by up to 85% by capping them at Rs.7,260 for bare metal ones and Rs.29,600 for drug eluding variety.

The step was taken to fix a standardised specification of stent and its MRP to stop fleecing of patients. This price ceiling of stents brought a huge relief for many cardiac patients across the country.

Consequent upon that three multinational stent makers Abbott, Medtronic and Boston Scientific Corporation had applied with India’s drug price regulator, National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), for withdrawal of their “new generation” stents from the country. This request of stent maker companies was not acceded to by NPPA.

All the chief secretaries were directed by NPPA to ensure compliance of stents price capping, its availability and uninterrupted cardiac care services. Earlier also the government had brought in important reforms such as the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) in 2011 and also issued the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) in 2013.

NPPA also met the association of hospitals recently and directed them that they while utilizing coronary stents shall specifically and separately mention the cost of the coronary stent along with its brand name, name of the manufacturer/ importer/ batch number and other details, if any, in their billing to the patients or their representatives.

Meanwhile on direction of NPPA the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has conducted a series of audits in Mumbai, Pune and Nashik, and is planning to audit more hospitals in the near future to detect overpricing of stents in government and private hospitals.

This direction was issued by NPPA subsequent to receiving complaints about stents being sold at higher prices at KEM Hospital, Lilavati Hospital and a few hospitals in Pune and Nashik.