National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy, 2012

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy-2012 has been notified on 07.12.2012. The salient features of National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy, 2012 (NPPP-2012) are as under:

·         The regulation of prices of drugs is on the basis of essentiality of drugs as specified under National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM)-2011.

·         The regulation of prices of drugs is on the basis of regulating the prices of formulations only.

·         The regulation of prices of drugs is on the basis of fixing the ceiling price of formulations through Market Based Pricing (MBP).

NLEM-2011 contains 614 formulations of specified strengths and dosage forms, spread over 27 therapeutic categories and satisfy the priority healthcare needs of majority of the population of the country.

As per the provisions of NPPP-2012, all the manufacturers/importers manufacturing/importing the medicines as specified under NLEM-2011 shall be under the purview of price control. Such medicines shall have an MRP equal to or lower than the ceiling price (plus local taxes as applicable) as notified by the Government for respective medicines.

     The objective of National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy-2012 is to put in place a regulatory framework for pricing of drugs so as to ensure availability of required medicines – “essential medicines” – at reasonable prices even while providing sufficient opportunity for innovation and competition to support the growth of industry, thereby meeting the goals of employment and shared economic well-being for all.

     During the 12^th Five Year Plan, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare proposes to start an initiative for free supply of essential medicines in public health facilities in the country aiming to provide affordable health care to the people by reducing out of pocket expenses on medicine.  Besides this, in order to provide relief to the common man in the area of healthcare, a countrywide campaign in the name of ‘Jan Aushadhi Campaign’ was initiated by the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Government of India, in collaboration with the State Governments, by way of opening up of Jan Aushadhi Generic Drug Stores to make available quality generic medicines at affordable prices to all.