Not So Bitter Medicine

The PM-appointed pharma taskforce has recommended that the price of 314 essential drugs be regulated. The Union ministry for chemicals and fertilisers says the move is in keeping with the CMP, which had promised access to cheaper drugs and also a check on the pricing of essential drugs. There is also a proposal to merge the various agencies which monitor the pharma market to create a single regulator, to be called the National Authority on Drugs and Therapeutics. Meanwhile, the pharma industry has come out strongly against the ‘price control’ being proposed by the government. It believes that no company can flourish in a regulated environment.