Consumers will feel the full impact of the new pricing regime for hundreds of generic drugs in a month when the current stocks with chemists were phased out, Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said Tuesday.
"The agreement by the pharma industry to reduce the retail margin for generic and generic branded drugs has been implemented as scheduled on Oct 2 (Monday). The package of new pricing for around 1,000 drugs should have been implemented," Paswan told IANS."The full impact of the new pricing regime - with wholesale margins being kept at 15 percent and retail margins at 35 percent - will be felt in a month as we have agreed to give the pharma industry time till Nov 2 to phase out the current stocks with old minimum retail price (MRP) in retail outlets," he said.
The move to limit the margins at the wholesale and retail end has been worked out by the government and the industry as per the directive of the Supreme Court and is expected to make drugs more affordable, particularly for the poor.
Under the new regime, the MRP will be inclusive of the local taxes.
Effectively, the prices of hundreds of generic and branded generic drugs will be cheaper up to 80 percent in some cases.
Source-IANS
SRM
