There is no shortage of coronary stents in the country, claims govt

NEW DELHI: There is no shortage of coronary stents in the market after substantial reduction of its price and the government is closely monitoring their availability, Lok Sabha was informed.

"No actionable complaint regarding shortage of Coronary Stents in the market has been received by the government so far," Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukh L Mandaviya said during Question Hour.

He said the government, through the National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Authority (NPPA), was closely monitoring the situation and has alerted the state governments and state drugs controllers to monitor the availability of the Stents.

The NPPA notified the ceiling price of Coronary Stent at Rs 7,260 for Bare Metal Stent (BMS) and Rs 29,600 for Drug Eluting Stents (DES), including metallic DES and Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffold (BVS)/Biodegradable Stents.

The average maximum retail price before the NPPA notification was Rs 45,100 for BMS and Rs 1,21,400 for DES.

"Price regulation has brought down the prices of Stents - BMS 74 per cent and DES 85 per cent," the Minister said.

Mandaviya said NPPA has not received any report or references indicating that manufacturers of Stents are trying to create an artificial scarcity of BMS and DES.

All state governments and state drug controllers have been advised to exercise the power of entry search and seizure as per Drug Price Control Order 2013 if manufacturers or importers or distributors try to create artificial shortage of Stents.

"NPPA is regularly interacting with the manufacturers/ importers in this regard and stent companies have assured to maintain the required level of availability," he said.