The Same Pill That Costs $1,000 in America Sells for $4 in India
However, pharmaceutical companies may lose interest in the Indian market due to the fixation of prices, which can lead to economic uncertainty since the Indian market is under rigorous pricing laws (Kumar et al., 2020). Another major concern is that medicines are not available where needed due to an inadequate supply chain and to the absence of potential producers that may not be attracted by these restrictions. If there is a lack of proper supply of medicine to the needy, this would be in contradiction with the objectives of social justice (Mrinali, 2013). Thus, the Indian government should take effective measures to better balance the positive and negative effects of DPCO. This study reported the availability, stock-outs and affordability of a basket of essential medicines (unbranded) and consumables in selected PMBJP stores in the districts of Palghar and Mumbai in Maharashtra. Besides affordability, we did cost comparison of unbranded and branded generic equivalents of some commonly used medicines.
- Please read the disclaimer and prescription-related full details at the bottom of this website.
- Core themes pertaining to medicines were identified and each theme was analysed to deduce the context-specific determinants influencing their availability and accessibility in the public health system.
- India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare did not respond to a request for comment.
- GLI’s in-house editorial team carefully reviews and edits each chapter, updated annually, and audits each one for originality, relevance and style, including anti-plagiarism and AI-detection tools.
- The IPCA factory in Pithampur, for instance, chose not to reject drug products that failed to meet specifications in initial “trial” tests, the FDA reported.
India’s challenges
However, it must be noted that Novartis provides Glivec free of charge to 16,000 patients in India, roughly 95% of those who need it via the Novartis “Glivec International Patient Assistance Program”. The remaining 5% are either reimbursed, insured, or participate in a very generous co-pay program. Thus, not granting a patent for Glivec really hasn’t prevented patients from getting this life-saving medication. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, a well-known global pharmaceutical company, manufactures Cabzored as part of its oncology treatments. (launching link) It is designed to offer a cost-effective and accessible treatment option for patients with specific types of cancer. In fact, the physicians have also cited other reasons for not prescribing generic medicines.
Teva to Present at the 7th Annual Evercore ISI HealthCONx Conference
Further, inadequate healthcare infrastructure, particularly in rural areas, affects the distribution and accessibility of pharmaceuticals, impacting both pricing and reimbursement effectiveness. A rise in the profit margin of businesses having product prices below DPCO was registered, which resulted in economies of scale (Venugopal and Jampala, 2019). The expenditure on health care in India has ultimately reduced the costs of medicines under DPCO, and essential drugs are coming under the ceiling price every day (Kuchey and Jan, 2018). Therefore, a better distribution of medicine in the middle-income groups, who need medicines for several treatments, has been observed. There was social and economic injustice because the low- and middle-income classes could not afford costly medicines, and DPCO resulted in socioeconomic justice for many poor people in India, a developing country.
Notable 2024 FDA decisions
While the upward revision of drug prices is positive for their respective producers, patients must increase their out-of-pocket (OOP) spending to cover the increased prices. This is also the case in India, where OOP healthcare expenditure accounts for more than 50% of total healthcare expenditure, despite India having among the lowest drug prices in the world. Making medicine accessible at affordable prices to the masses will require more than the somewhat piecemeal approach to generic drug promotion that currently exists in the form of PMBJP scheme.
New moves in science: addressing the unmet needs of Inflammatory Bowel Disease patients
Pharmaceutical price control is a popular technique that has been used by other countries to address the shortages of medicines following the Covid-19 pandemic and relieve pharma companies that are suffering from high production costs. The implementation of market-based price ceilings on a set of essential medicines, including on-patent and generic drugs, is a form of pharmaceutical price control applied by the Indian Government and intended to make drugs accessible to people at an affordable price and address drug shortages. GlobalData examined a similar price increase for 146 essential medicines in Pakistan under the hardship category to subsidise the rising cost of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and production, which led to an acute nationwide shortage of essential drugs.
- The principal aim of this study is to conduct an explorative investigation of the current and future situation of the Indian pharmaceutical industry, with the development of a narrative SWOT analysis to generate an overall scenario analysis.
- To maximize the outcome of this progress, the Global Fund, together with PEPFAR and the National Department of Health, Republic of South Africa, will host the annual ARV Buyer Seller Summit in Maputo, Mozambique, starting on 30 October.
- A “pair” of product from the same company was chosen to appreciate the price structure and mark-ups for the two versions.
- Further, the healthcare professionals stated that generics do not yield good results while treating for acute conditions like bacterial infections, but they expressed confidence in generic medicines for chronic illnesses.
- The USA represents a large pharmaceutical demand as companies obtain substantially higher prices for medicines sold in that market.
- Apart from the limited coverage of essential medicines and the significant presence of Fixed dose combinations (FDCs) in the PMBJP medicine list, the availability of surveyed essential drugs was also found to be low (47%) in PMBJP outlets.
- Financially poor people use India’s public health-care system and reserving land in cities for public facilities will serve the population’s low-income earners.
Pfizer and Flynn Pharma fined £69m for ‘excessive’ pricing of epilepsy drug
In India, many pharmaceutical companies manufacture two types of products for the same molecule, i.e. the branded product which they advertise and push through doctors and branded-generic which they expect retailers to push in the market. The so-called branded medicines in India are manufactured and promoted by multinationals or by reputed Indian manufacturers. Branded-generics, on the other hand, are not promoted or advertized by the manufacturer. Patients’ and doctors’ perception for all branded-generics irrespective of company is the same. The Common Review Missions serve as a platform to not only highlight various state level experiences but also signal the way forward to overcome systemic challenges in access to essential medicines.
Why Does an $84,000 Drug in the U.S. Cost Less Than $1,000 in India
The customer will have to present a medical prescription (legal) prescribed from a doctor. Contrast this with China, which is reportedly using its own vaccine projects as a commercial negotiating tool with countries who stand to benefit. It is another reason why India’s position as pharmacy of the world has a value far beyond its borders. SII is also partnering with US firm Novavax to develop and distribute the NVX-CoV2373 vaccine in collaboration with CEPI and COVAX.
Why Not Regulate Prices?
In the home market, drug prices are controlled by the drug price control order; therefore, there is strong pressure on revenues and subsequently on costs. In the international market, threats derived from pharmaceutical multinational companies are emerging as tough obstacles to overcome. Indian generic manufacturers are also producing in the U.S. and in other countries whenever necessary.
Cabozantinib price in India
While in a few, they are observed to be efficient (e.g., Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh), challenges reported in many states are largely due to implementation gaps confounded by other systemic challenges. We have sought to establish an ML link between the price and sample age of AMLO besylate containing FPPs and acceptable quality attributes of the same. The analysis of nine top-selling AMLO besylate-containing marketed FPPs was exercised using a validated analytical method.
Pharmacists’ views on PMBJP
The website you are about to access may be governed by different regional policies, regulations or advertising codes. Please be sure to read the privacy policy and terms of use of the websites that you visit. Cabotres is the medicine by the Cipla brand that harnesses the therapeutic benefits of cabozantinib. In addition to litigation, the firm advises clients on representations to be made to governmental regulatory bodies like the NPPA. The firm regularly attends hearings before forums such as the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilisers and the Department of Pharmaceutics on behalf of its clients, providing strategic legal support in these highly regulated environments. Regarding her contributions in international conferences, Ms. Sharma has been elected as an executive member of AIPPI for the Indian Group, is an active member of the APAA and regularly participates and attends the INTA.
Thus, the Indian government should establish ongoing support to small- and medium-sized Indian companies in training and implementing FDA standards, as it provides easy global access to those and similar international markets. India has witnessed rapid population and economic growth in the past two decades, and this expansion has created a demand for larger and better infrastructure in cities and industrial parks. India’s limited development of service platforms is a result of the scarce functioning of the bureaucracy, but conditions have improved in recent years. There is a need to reserve appropriate sizes of land for the health-care sector in cities and for pharmaceutical companies in industrial belts during the planning process. In India, the public health-care system is not strong, and most of the middle class and above prefer to visit private hospitals for treatment.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
- The mean drug availability at PMBJP stores located in the vicinity of PHCs and district/rural hospitals was 51% and 61% respectively.
- She is scientific coordinator for the CNR on R&D projects and has published articles on national and international journals, as well as essays on collective volumes.
- As a result of Covid-related factory shutdowns in Shanghai, China in early 2022, GE Healthcare was unable to produce enough contrast dye to supply the American market.
- While the upward revision of drug prices is positive for their respective producers, patients must increase their out-of-pocket (OOP) spending to cover the increased prices.
- Generic Aadhaar has brought a revolution in this conventional pharmaceutical industry.
Be at the forefront of data-driven decision-making with a new generative AI tool that enables you to interact with our products and solutions like never before. Explore our library of insights, thought leadership, and the latest topics & trends in healthcare. When your destination is a healthier world, making intelligent connections between data, technology, and services is your roadmap.
The rise and rise of the pharmaceutical supply chain in India
Because open-heart surgery and the stents needed for angioplasty are not affordable to all, DPCO could offer a potential solution for these and other medical treatments (Wadhera et al., 2017). Taking into consideration some of the most authoritative reports and issues in the field at the institutional and corporate levels (e.g. Biospectrum Bureau, Fortis Healthcare, IBEF, McKinsey, etc.), a content analysis was performed to identify the most relevant issues for the sector. After this initial overview of the current and future situation of the Indian pharmaceutical sector, a positive picture has emerged. However, several issues cannot be highlighted by the positive numbers so far analyzed, representing weaknesses and threats for the industry that have emerged from a qualitative analysis that has been deployed to provide the basis for a subsequent narrative SWOT analysis. The following investigation provides general elements for the examination of the current and expected scenarios of the Indian pharmaceutical sector to respond to RQ1 and RQ2.
Latest Publications
As such, pharmaceutical companies are permitted to increase the prices of their drugs by this percentage. The marginal price adjustment is expected to affect 923 scheduled formulations listed in the NLEM, including antibiotics, cardiovascular medicines, tuberculosis drugs, and Parkinson’s and dementia medicines, among others; the small scale of the adjustment renders it meaningless compared to previous price adjustments. However, it instead tipped the balance in favor of the pharmaceutical industry’s commercial interests, and away from access to affordable medicines. For example, the development of a range of long-acting HIV prevention and treatment medicines could be transformative in advancing the end of AIDS — but this can only happen if those medicines are made widely available at low prices through large-scale generic production. India has long been known as the “pharmacy of the world,” producing generic medicines at prices that other developing countries and global institutions can afford. The country was the single largest supplier of pharmaceutical products to Africa in 2018, and accounted for a fifth of the continent’s pharmaceutical imports.
All these factors are making the larger Indian players conscious of how best to evolve from their current offering. “I would also advise to focus strongly on reliable quality and being ahead of the curve on FDA requirements, to rapidly establish yourself,” he continued. The price ceiling policy has been in place for more than two decades, but it has neither been very successful nor free of consequences for pharma companies. Instead of the existing price controls, other mechanisms such as promoting competition among local manufacturers and increasing public healthcare spending should be focused on. It remains to be seen if the NPPA will schedule additional price adjustments for essential medicines in the current fiscal year ahead of the national elections, which are set to take place between 19 April and 1 June 2024. India’s independent drug pricing regulator, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), has issued a marginal increase of 0.0055% to the maximum retail price (MRP) of medicines included in India’s national list of essential medicines (NLEM), which took effect on 1 April 2024.
- If anything, recent Indian policies are sending a signal that intellectual property is tenuous in this country and will be granted only in those cases where it can benefit India.
- The Bureau of Pharma Sector Undertakings (BPSU) working under the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Government of India, was entrusted with the responsibility of implementing JAS, i.e., to coordinate procurement, supply and marketing of generic drugs through JAS outlets.
- On average, generic medications cost approximately 79% less than their brand-name counterparts, offering substantial savings for consumers.
- The beneficiary or healthcare provider is required to submit its claim to the respective authority, along with the prescriptions and relevant documents pertaining to the insurance or health scheme authorities.
- Importantly, beyond presenting an evidence-based case that generics manufactured in India are efficacious and safe, we must also demonstrate the enormous good these drugs provide to consumers.
- Dhiraj Singh/BloombergAbout one in 20 of Canada’s finished drugs are now made in India – roughly 20 million prescriptions a year.
HEALTH SYSTEM FACTORS INFLUENCING SUPPLY CHAIN OF MEDICINES
Over the years, it has been noted that states with autonomous bodies for procurement demonstrate relatively improved governance, decreased wastage, improved availability of quality medicines and less burden on end-users in terms of out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE). The latter models face relatively more constraints to meet district- level demands, often resulting in delays and disproportionate local purchases. Even among states with procurement bodies, their efficiency in achieving desirable outcomes is tied to state-specific customization of the erlotinib price in malaysia procurement and distribution system. Interestingly, the European Commission does appear to recognize that overly restrictive intellectual property rules can be harmful. It recently proposed a seismic package of reforms to pharmaceutical and intellectual property regulations — seemingly an attempt to wrestle back some balance between such restrictions and access to medicines in Europe. Whatever the cause of the benzathine shortage, Professor Stephen Schondelmeyer says that it has led to more outbreaks of syphilis in the U.S. than were expected.
- The heart of the problem is that we have driven prices too low, moved supply of generic medicines to a small number of the cheapest-of-the-cheap offshore suppliers, and sacrificed resiliency, manufacturing quality, and backup supply to chase the false god of low prices.
- Thus, the Indian government should take effective measures to better balance the positive and negative effects of DPCO.
- For example, the development of a range of long-acting HIV prevention and treatment medicines could be transformative in advancing the end of AIDS — but this can only happen if those medicines are made widely available at low prices through large-scale generic production.
- We found that switching from branded-generic medicine to unbranded generic medicines would lead to substantial cost savings for medicine consumers.
It is administered orally and requires careful dosing and monitoring by healthcare professionals to manage side effects and ensure the best therapeutic outcomes. Ms. Chawla has authorised and contributed to various academic articles and journals on topics relating to cyber laws and copyright laws. She has represented the firm at national and international conferences and conclaves in India and Dubai. Further, she has also conducted workshops on IP law for university students and has been invited as a judge for several prestigious moot court and negotiation competitions at the university level.