There is a big difference in the prices of the pharmaceutical products in India. The products having same drugs with same label claim are being sold in different prices. Sometimes this difference increases the prices twice, thrice or even ten folds.
According to the government, the price should be calculated by the formula suggested by the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO). The retail price of the pharmaceutical formulations is calculated by the following formula:
Retail Price = (MC+CC+PM+PC) x (1+MAPE/100) + ED
Where,
MC = Material cost including the cost of drug, excipients and loss during the processing.
CC = Conversion cost
PM = Cost of packaging material including the process loss
PC = Packing charges
MAPE = Maximum Allowable Post-manufacturing Expenses
ED = Excise Duty
Government fixes the retail price by the above formula but all the pharmaceutical companies try to increase the retail price to increase their profit.
The prices of the pharmaceutical formulations are calculated by the same formula but there is a great variation in the prices of different companies because generally, companies change MAPE to increase the drug price. The government suggests the value 100 for MAPE to calculate the retail price.
It increases the retail price twice but when the manufacturer increases it, the price will also increase accordingly. Some companies increase the price by adding their research and development expenditure and the cost of product development and regulatory approvals.
Atenolol Tablets 50 mg (strip of 14 tablets) manufactured by the FDC Limited are sold for `8 and the same drug manufactured by Nicholas Piramal India Ltd. is being sold for `64. Nicholas is selling the same drug at eight times higher prices.
Some companies say that there expense in marketing is more than other company but you can imagine the difference in expense in marketing and product promotion and it could not be eight times more than the other one.
In some cases, the two products of the same company having same drugs and their label claim are being sold at different prices. For instance, Atenolol tablets 50 mg (strip of 14 tablets) manufactured by IPCA Laboratories Ltd. with the name Teno 50 are being sold for `25 and with the name Tenolol 50 for `43.
It shows that the prices are being increased to increase the profit margin of the company. Comment your views on the situations.
Really valuable info.,thanks
ReplyDeleteDPCO should take action against companies and should come out with a law which helps to regulate the price of same product of different companies
ReplyDeleteIt is not fair on the part of companies by claiming simply R&D expenses. Now time has come all the generic medicines marketed in India to be equivalent to Innovator product.
ReplyDeleteI understand first generic launched by a x company is manipulating the equivalence data.
Indian generic companies are complicating the formulation development for simple dosage forms and raising the MAPE. Not fair
It is not fair on part of Indian big companies to charge more MAPE, based on R&D. Indian companies are complicating the simple products to complicated in the name of R&D.
ReplyDeleteAll companies who are claim more MAPE shall submit their equivalence data in vitro/in vivo in line the with Innovator data.
I understand that first time generic product introduced in India has wrong bio data which are manipulated and obtained permission.
DCGI shall gear up their capabilities in these line and curtain this high prices without any proper justification.
its very use full information's,
ReplyDeleteJ.S.NEGI
Consultant Adsakti Herbals
Why Government dose not responding to this situation ?
ReplyDeleteGovernment regulations should be rigid rather flexible............
Good article! But there are two questions:
ReplyDelete1. When Govt. has fixed 100 as MAPE, why the companies defy it to increase the drug's retail price and who is going to check it? Is there any control mechanism in place?
2. How R&D expenditure for off-patented drugs can be considered as Maximum Allowable Post-manufacturing Expenses (MAPE) to increase retail price?
Looks like dpco fails
ReplyDeleteYa good information...... Every pharmacist must know this.......
ReplyDeleteplease send wat are the FDA regulation and spanish regulation
ReplyDeleteIt's nice article for every pharmacist to know
ReplyDeletehow to increases price of drug by compony wise
Nice information
ReplyDeleteThen all of us as pharmacist should come ahead for this topic or issue why we only write...and discuss why don't we do something
ReplyDeleteDPCO should take a serious actions on that particular companies to take availability of the medicines for all the common men
ReplyDeletein medicin field have lots of corruption..
ReplyDeleteso take action against the companies...that corruption create lots of proplem for poor people..
many people may think that the drug's higher price is genuinely produced as per specification and not otherwise in lesser price drugs. can anyone explain this anomaly?
ReplyDeleteWhy the government does not have any kind of control over this kind pf activities.
ReplyDeletesome strict regulations are to be implemented.
I have started using metformin & vildagliptin combination drug for controlling diabetes. Same combination one company is selling for rs 68 vs rs 200 by another company. So next time when you buy medicine, please do research and buy it. It was eye opener for me. Same shop sells same combination but different brands for different prices
ReplyDelete