In A First, Kerala Sets Up Drug Price Monitoring And Research Unit To Curb Overcharging Of Medicines

In a first, the Kerala government has set up a price monitoring and research unit (PMRU) to track violation of prices of essential drugs and medical devices under Drugs Price and Control order, reports The Hindu.

The move reportedly comes after the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority(NPPA) proposed such a system for states and union territories.

"There is no price review mechanism now," Ravi S. Menon, State Drugs Controller, was quoted saying by The Hindu. "Society had been registered to get Central assistance for the functioning of the unit. The new office would start functioning as soon as infrastructure was set up," Menon said.

The state health secretary would chair the new society, and the drugs controller would be its member secretary. It would also include a state government representative, representatives of private pharmaceutical companies, and those from consumer rights protection fora. The society would also have an executive committee headed by the drugs controller.

The new watchdog would provide technical help to the state drug controllers and the NPPA to monitor notified prices of medicines, detect violation of the provisions of the DPCO, look at price compliance, collect test samples of drugs, and collect and compile market-based data of scheduled as well as non-scheduled formulations.

According to reports, incidents of pharma companies overcharging drugs in the scheduled category fixed by the DPCO and those outside its ambit has necessitated the new move. Moreover, the lack of a field-level link between the NPPA and the State Drugs Controllers and State Drug Inspectors to monitor drug prices mandates PMRU, says experts.

The unit would help the state drugs control wing, which is hit by severe staff shortage to regulate drug prices more effectively. Reports suggest that about Rs 10,000 crore worth medicines are sold per year in Kerala.

The new unit could track if buyers were being overcharged. It would also check if pharma companies were hiking the rates of non-scheduled medicines by more than 10 per cent a year. “We also need to check if there is any shortage of essential medicines. There is also a plan to collect data on the prices of surgical devices and stents in the market,” added Menon.