Differential Pricing for Different classes of Stents: Manufactures tell NPPA

New Delhi: On the one year anniversary of the central government's move of imposing a blanket ceiling on cardiac stent prices across the country, Medical device manufacturers, stakeholders, and medical bodies have met with the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NAPPA) yesterday to discuss stents price capping revision.

Stent manufacturers have indeed been in a state of shock since last year when NPPA had capped the ceiling price of coronary stents at Rs 7,260 for a bare metal stent and Rs 29,600 for drug-eluting ones. As a result of the policy move, the stent makers have been finding it difficult to cope up with the market and many of them withdraw their stent from the market. NPPA called the manufactures for a meeting on 5th February to discuss the issue the current price caps and propose more viable solutions.

According to the manufactures, the blanket price cap on stent has crippled the market leaving little room for innovation and the patients are left with few options.The Medical device-makers body MTaI has suggested the regulators to consider creating sub-categories for stents and demanded the expansion of the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) board evaluating the price-capping issue by including different stakeholders with fair representation.

Mr. Pavan Choudary, Chairman, and DG of The Medical Technology Association of India (MTaI) has recommended the following moves:

• NPPA should consider creating sub-categories for stents to ensure that significant technological innovation stays commercially rewardable


• For medical devices generally, MTAI has endorsed the recommendations of DOP’s 'Report of the Committee on High Trade Margins in Sale of Drugs - 2016' believing the recommendations will improve patient access remarkably.


• Continuing in the spirit of inclusiveness, MTAI has requested the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to reconstitute the NLEM committee to enable inclusion of representatives from other relevant sections of the healthcare ecosystem. The broader constitution will give a real chance to the committee to review its previous decision on price capping. The committee, in its current form, is invested in the decision it took last year and the review would be fair if it is done by a broader panel."

After hearing the view of all the stakeholders, NPPA has decided to meet again on February 8 to deliberate on the new stent prices.

NPPA said in a tweet,