651 Essential Medicines Became Cheaper By 6.73 Per Cent From April

The cost of 651 essential medicines has come down by 6.73 per cent from the start of April instead of rising by 12.12 per cent.

This is thanks to the Indian government's move to cap the ceiling prices of as many scheduled drugs on the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM).

The NLEM presently has 870 scheduled drugs in total after the Health Ministry's amendment in September 2022.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) revealed all this in a tweet on Monday (3 April).

The NPPA observed that the price cap had already caused a 16.62 per cent average reduction in cost for 651 essential drugs.

Thus, consumers will benefit from this price decline despite the 12.12 per cent annual hike in prices of drugs based on the wholesale price index, according to the drug price regulator.

The NPPA fixes the ceiling price for essential medicines under Schedule I, per the Drugs (Prices Control) Order (DPCO), 2013.

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

(With inputs from PTI)