Prices of 851 essential drug formulations cut in past 2 year: Government

New Delhi: Prices of 851 essential drug formulations were cut, mostly in the 5-40 percent range, in the past 2 years, the government said.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukh L Mandaviya said the government has cut the prices of 234 essential drugs by up to 5 percent.

Prices of another 134 formulations were reduced in the range of 5-10 percent, and of more 98 products by 10-15 percent.

Another set of 98 formulations saw prices reduced by 15-20 percent. In addition to that 93 formulations saw prices drop by 20-25 percent, the minister said.

He further said that NPPA (National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority) also slashed prices of 65 products ranging between 25-30 percent, 46 products between 30-35 percent, 24 products in the range of 35-40 per and 59 products over 40 percent.

In a separate reply, Mandaviya said turnover of scheduled formulations stood at Rs 19,877 crore for the year ended December 31.

The growth rate for such formulations declined by 3 percent last year as compared with a growth of 2 percent in 2016 and 13 percent in 2015, the minister said.

In same time turnover of non-scheduled formulations stood at Rs 96,512 crore last year, a growth of 8 percent, he added.

The total turnover of both scheduled and non-scheduled formulations stood at Rs 1,16,389 crore, a growth of 6 percent, the minister said.