New Delhi : Drug price regulator NPPA fixed ceiling for 123 medicines last month while 118 cases of overcharging by pharmaceutical companies were detected during the period.

Besides, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) fixed retail prices of 51 medicines in July, taking the cumulative figure for the current fiscal to 90.

"NPPA fixed ceiling prices of 123 medicines during July 2016, bringing the cumulative figure for 2016-17 to 316," the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) said in a statement on its website.

The regulator also identified 118 cases of overcharging during the month, it added.

As stipulated under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order (DPCO) 2013, NPPA fixes ceiling price of essential medicines of Schedule I. In respect of medicines not under price control, manufacturers are allowed to increase the maximum retail price by 10 per cent annually.

The calculation for essential drugs is based on the simple average of all medicines in a particular therapeutic segment with sales of more than 1 per cent.

The government had notified the DPCO 2013, which covers 680 formulations, with effect from May 15, 2014, replacing the 1995 order that regulated prices of only 74 bulk drugs.

Set up in 1997, NPPA has been entrusted with the task of fixation/revision of prices of pharma products, enforcement of provisions of DPCO and monitoring of prices of controlled and decontrolled drugs.