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The government has removed the price control on innovative medicines developed by foreign companies for a tenure of five years in order to give Indian patients better access to these drugs that are only available in foreign countries. Orphan drugs, that are used to treat rare medical conditions are included in this exemption.
The ministry of chemicals and fertilizers in amendments to the Drugs Price Control Order (DPCO) relieved manufacturers of new drugs, patented under the Indian Patent Act, 1970, from government’s excessive price control for a course of five years starting from the date of commercial marketing by the manufacturer.
DPCO implements the price control on drugs through a National List of Essential Medicines which is also called as Schedule-I of DPCO. Any drug that is listed in the Schedule-I directly falls under the government price control. DPCO in its previous amendment, has exempted patented drugs from government price control for a period of five years, that were manufactured domestically.
