SUPPLY SHORTAGES, PATENTS IMPACT DRUG PRICES IN INDIA

According to local reports, drug prices in India could rise sharply due to a shortage of key raw materials. Meanwhile, local observers have also revealed sharp price differences between patented pharmaceuticals and their copy equivalents.

Indian drug firms usually import the pharmaceutical raw material DCFB from China, but a severe supply gap reportedly led export prices to soar from US$18 per kg to US$43 per kg last month. As the finished products are already subject to harsh local price controls, some manufacturers are warning that the situation could lead them to suspend production of unprofitable drugs, potentially including the antibiotic ciprofloxacin.

Meanwhile, a survey of drug prices nominally controlled by India's National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) indicates that stark price differences exist between many therapeutically comparable drugs. Two local versions of the antipychotic risperidone-originally developed by Jannsen-Cilag-have a 1,500% price gap.

However, sharp differences also exist between non-patented products marketed by multinational sector firms. Notable examples include Ramipril, where a price differential of 76% reportedly exists between separate presentations marketed by Sanofi-Aventis and Novartis. Although some of the differences are testimony to the superior branding of many multinationals in India, the reports are likely to add to criticisms that the NPPA's unwieldy pricing mechanisms are in need of urgent reform.