Government of India has issued the notification for fixing the ceiling prices of coronary stents.
The step would bring down the cost of coronary stents,currently hiked by about 380%.
Now the ceiling prices of Bare Metal Stents (BMS), having 10% market share, has been capped at Rs. 7,260 and Drug Eluting stents (DES), having 90% market share, at Rs. 29,600. These prices are exclusive of VAT and other local taxes.
Since most of the States have 5% VAT on stents, the MRP of BMS and DES would be Rs.7623 and Rs. 31,080.
National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has fixed the prices within 60 days as required.
The step is a major decisive action on the unethical margins charged at each stage in the supply chain of coronary stents, the Minister stated that the new prices are not likely to make much adverse impact on industry.
The average MRP in the market for BMS was Rs. 45,000 and for DES Rs. 1,21,000. This has been reduced to Rs. 7623 for BMS and Rs. 31,080 for DES. Thus, based on price reduction, patients will get average benefit of 80-90 thousand per stent resulting into a gross relief of Rs. 4450 crores in one year.
The prices of all stocked stents will have to be revised according to the new ceiling price.
In case of serious violations of the ceiling prices, the NPPA has the authority to recover the overcharged amount along with 15% interest.
For addressing the grievances of the common people, the Ministry has already started two mobile apps, Pharma Jan Samadhan and Pharma Sahi Daam, on which aggrieved person can register complaints and the Ministry would act swiftly to resolve it.
Background:
Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD) are major cause of death in India, about 25% of total deaths. Out of these, 90-95% CVD deaths happen due to coronary artery diseases. As per the report of National Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, prevalence of CAD in India is about 61.5 million as per 2015 report.
As per Health Ministry report, more than 3.5 lakh procedures were done in 2015 which used 4.73 lakh stents. In 2016, the figure of cardiac stent must have been above 5 lakhs. Presently market size of India made stents is roughly 30%.
The new ceiling prices will promote ‘Make in India’ in a big way and seeing the huge number of patients and future requirement, foreign companies will also try to make in India for cutting costs and remain competitive.
