Anti Cancer drugs selling as higher than MRP rates: Govt

Patna: Pharmaceutical Companies selling anti cancer drugs at higher than MRP rates will be facing stringent action by the government was the announcement made on Tuesday. The centre has come forward and admitted to this malpractice prevailing in the market off late. State Cooperative Minister, Alok Kumar Mehta in a reply in the upper house said a letter had been shot by the Bihar Government to the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) asking it to fix drug rates.

According to TOI the NPPA has been issued an order of a similar nature by the Centre as well.The NPPA is an independent body of experts which fixes prices for only those medicines that are listed in a 'schedule' found in the Drugs Prices Control Order.

The minister claimed that the government was making attempts to make available anti cancer drugs at rates below the MRP. According to information released anti-cancer drugs like Aux, Gross and Citadin were selling at much higher prices in the state. Opposition leader Sushil Kumar Modi said 374 kinds of anti-cancer drugs were being sold in the state at 800% of their MRP rates. He called upon the health minister and his department to check out the reason for this increased rate of cancer drugs. Capt Mithilesh Kumar also urged that drug costs be decreased on humanitarian grounds.

"Pharma sectors cannot sell drugs in excess of 16% of its MRP rates but in Bihar they are selling at 800% higher than MRP. The pharmaceutical industry obtains higher profits with greater margins than other industries and it has been argued that these margins are far beyond the sums required to finance research and development." added Modi.