Why is system helping pharma makers, asks Supreme Court

The Supreme Court questioned the Centre over the wide gap between medicine MRPs and retailer prices, asking whether the system favoured pharmaceutical manufacturers. It also criticised the NPPA and reserved its order on petitions concerning medicine pricing.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned the Centre over the massive difference between the maximum retail price (MRP) of medicines and the price charged to retailers, asking why the entire system was working to help pharmaceutical manufacturers.

The Centre told the apex court that the government policy “is that the entire ecosystem is not to be controlled”.

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“Why is the entire system working to help these people (manufacturers),” a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta asked during the hearing.

It observed that the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) seemed to be a “totally defunct” body.

The bench was hearing two petitions that flagged the issue of medicine pricing in the country.

Referring to the massive difference between the MRP and the price charged to retailers, the bench said, “The government is allowing this to happen. It is under the government’s own eyes that it is happening.” “Should it be allowed to run amok?” the bench asked.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, told the bench that medicine prices in India were among the lowest in the world.

The bench reserved its order in the matter.

While hearing the matter 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 on other medicines.

The Centre, which had earlier come under severe criticism from the top court over steep markups on cancer drugs by hospitals, said the government had taken an important decision to cap the trade margin on anti-cancer drugs at 30 per cent of the MRP. This was expected to result in annual savings of approximately Rs 2,500 crore for patients.