BMJ  2006;333:1036 (18 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.39031.665868.DB

News

Indian health activists criticise voluntary price cuts by drug industry

Ganapati Mudur

1 New Delhi

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Some of India's largest drug companies have reduced the prices of 886 drug formulations, but health activists and some doctors have described the move as a ploy by the drug industry to evade meaningful price control.

The government last week released a list of formulations for which the drug companies have voluntarily reduced the prices by amounts ranging from 0.26% to 74% below current prices.

Officials at the Indian Ministry of Chemicals have said that the 11 companies submitted individual lists in response to ongoing government initiatives to work with industry to reduce the retail price of drugs.

The formulations cover many classes of drugs, including analgesics, antibiotics, antihypertensives, antipsychotics, and vitamins. Government officials have also said that efforts are under way to reduce the prices of more formulations. But health activists have criticised the list, saying that it creates a misleading impression that the drug industry has made important . . . [Full text of this article]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Profit ceiling on drugs
Amitabh Parashar, et al.
bmj.com, 18 Nov 2006 [Full text]
Re: Profit ceiling on drugs compatible with profit and development
Biswaroop Chatterjee
bmj.com, 21 Nov 2006 [Full text]
Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ