NPPA asks Remdisivir drug makers to ensure transparency after complaints about black marketing

New Delhi | Mumbai: India’s drug pricing regulator has sought details on the price movement and production of remdesivir and insisted on more transparency from the manufacturers of the antiviral, following complaints about black marketing of the drug. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has also suggested the setting up of a helpline for remdesivir, and asked for proper display of its price by dealers and hospitals. The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) had earlier asked states to keep a watch on the sale of the drug prescribed for Covid-19 treatment.“We have suggested a few methods to ensure that people are not taken for a ride, like putting information on the price of the drug in public knowledge. We have written to the drug controller asking to set up a helpline, too,” NPPA chairperson Shubhra Singh told ET.Since the drug is not a scheduled one, the NPPA does not have much say on its price. “The lacunae in the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) comes into play here. Since it's not a scheduled drug, NPPA doesn’t have much ground here. The NPPA can initiate price control only during the annual price hike,” said a person aware of the matter.76865111However, the drug price regulator can invoke paragraph 19 of the DPCO 2013 that empowers it to fix or revise the ceiling price or retail price of any drug which it deems necessary for the interest of public in case of any extraordinary circumstances, people in the government said. “We have to ensure availability with affordability and hence a call regarding paragraph 19 can be taken at any stage,” one of the people said.To clamp down on the alleged black marketing of the drug, the DCGI has asked state drug regulators and the NPPA to enforce the maximum retail price of the experimental Covid-19 drug. The action by Drug Controller General of India VG Somani comes after it received a letter from LocalCircles, a social media site dedicated for governance and community engagement, on the alleged black marketing. The drug controller said the importer of the drug (Gilead Sciences) had taken an import licence on June 1 but was yet to supply the drug. The other companies who have licence to supply the drug include Hetero, Cipla and Mylan."You are requested to instruct your enforcement officials to keep strict vigil on the matter to prevent black marketing and sale of remdesivir injection above the MRP," Somani said. In the community forum of LocalCircles, families of Covid-19 patients complained that the MRP of remdesivir marketed by Hetero Healthcare was Rs 5,400 a vial, but a few chemist shops and distributors were quoting as much as Rs 15,000-60,000.

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