The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has updated the ceiling prices for six specific drug formulations in response to review orders favoring various companies made in October.
These reforms impact the pricing of local anesthetics, such as lignocaine injections at 2% concentration and lignocaine topical solutions at 2-5% per gram, as well as antibiotics like clarithromycin at 250mg and its oral liquid form at 125mg per 5ml. The review also targeted vitamin supplements including ascorbic acid (vitamin C) at 500 mg and thiamine injections at 100 mg/ml.
### Revised Pricing Details:
1. **Lignocaine Injection 2%**
– Previous: ₹1.04 per ml (as of March 26, 2024)
– Revised: ₹1.14 per ml
– *Neon Laboratories criticized the previous ceiling price calculations for incorporating their product, Lox Viscous 2%, inaccurately.*
2. **Lignocaine Topical Solutions 2-5%**
– Previous: ₹1.13 per gm/ml
– Revised: ₹1.08 per gm/ml
3. **Clarithromycin 250mg**
– Previous: ₹23.89 per tablet
– Revised: ₹24.06 per tablet
– *Abbott disputed the former price setting which neglected the revised price information for Glenmark Pharmaceuticals’ Maclar brand.*
4. **Clarithromycin Oral Liquid 125mg/5ml**
– Previous: ₹4.61 per ml
– Revised: ₹4.65 per ml
– *Cipla Ltd’s petition led to the re-evaluation after incorrect Price to Retailer data was identified in the NPPA’s calculations.*
5. **Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) 500mg**
– Previous: ₹1.48 per tablet
– Revised: ₹1.54 per tablet
– *Koye Pharmaceuticals and Abbott Healthcare found errors in the database Pharmatrac and PTR metrics used by NPPA.*
6. **Thiamine Injection 100 mg/ml**
– Previous: ₹22.59 per ml
– Revised: ₹26.70 per ml
– *Ordain Health Care Global successfully argued for a revised ceiling after identifying an error in previous fixed combination calculations by the regulator.*
The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) addressed multiple review applications throughout October, submitted by companies like Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Abbott Healthcare, Cipla, and Lupin, resulting in these comprehensive revisions by the NPPA.