Drug price regulator NPPA has fixed the ceiling price for 92 drug formulations, including those used for treatment of cancer, hepatitis C, migraine and diabetes among others.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) said while the retail price of 72 scheduled formulations has been fixed, that of 9 has been revised. Further, the authority has also revised the retail prices of 11 scheduled formulations."NPPA has fixed/revised ceiling prices/retail prices of 92 formulations under Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013," it said in a notification.

NPPA fixes the ceiling price of essential medicines of Schedule I under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order (DPCO) 2013. In respect of medicines that are not under price control, manufacturers are allowed to increase the maximum retail price by 10 per cent annually.
The calculation for essential drugs is based on the simple average of all medicines in a particular therapeutic segment with sales of more than 1 per cent. Set up in 1997, NPPA has been entrusted with the task of fixation/revision of prices of pharma products, enforcement of provisions of DPCO and monitoring of prices of controlled and decontrolled drugs.