India

Supreme Court Criticises Government Over Medicine Price Gap and NPPA Performance

By HT News Desk

The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned the government over the large gap between the maximum retail price (MRP) of medicines and the prices at which retailers purchase them, raising concerns about drug pricing oversight. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta heard two petitions that highlighted issues with medicine pricing. The bench asked why the system seemed to favour pharmaceutical manufacturers and whether such practices should be allowed to continue unchecked. "The government is allowing this to happen. It is under the government's own eyes that it is happening," the bench told the Centre. "Should it be allowed to run amok?" the bench asked. The bench also described the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), the body responsible for regulating drug prices, as appearing to be a "totally defunct" organisation.

During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, explained that the government's policy was "that the entire ecosystem is not to be controlled". Bhati said that medicine prices in India were among the lowest in the world, arguing that the government needed to balance affordability with the availability of medicines and the broader interests of the pharmaceutical industry. The bench reserved its order in the matter.

In an earlier hearing on October 12, the top court had said the Centre's response on capping the trade margin of anti‑cancer drugs at 30 per cent of the MRP was "hardly anything to be happy about" and questioned why the government could not cap trade margins of other medicines. The Centre, which had earlier faced criticism from the top court for steep mark‑ups of cancer drugs by hospitals, said that the government has taken an important decision to cap the trade margin on anti‑cancer drugs at 30 per cent of the MRP, which is expected to result in annual savings of approximately ₹2,500 crore for patients.