NEW DELHI: A parliamentary panel has recommended that the gap between the landing price, or the cost at which a medicine or medical device reaches the market, and its MRP should not exceed 20%, citing wide price disparities that can increase patients’ out-of-pocket expenditure.The Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare cited Tenecteplase, a life-saving clot-busting drug used during the golden hour of a heart attack, as an example. According to the report, its landing cost is Rs 18,000, while the MRP is Rs 50,000, with patients being billed at the MRP.The panel said the gap between landing cost and MRP needs to be reduced to make medicines and medical devices more affordable. It also recommended rationalising the prices of peripheral stents and drug-eluting balloons.Pointing to the impact of price regulation, the committee noted that cardiac stents, which earlier cost around Rs 1.9 lakh, were capped at Rs 25,000-30,000 in 2017.The panel, however, stressed that lowering prices should not compromise the quality or availability of medical devices. It recommended strict quality-management systems for manufacturers and called for measures to prevent shortages and black marketing while rationalising prices of high-end medical consumables.
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The committee also flagged the cost of clear aligners, ranging from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, and recommended that regulators consider standardising the prices of clear aligners and dental materials.It further recommended promoting domestic production of costly devices such as implantable cardioverter defibrillators, heart valves, cardiac cath labs, pacemakers and PET scanners, noting that some are not covered under Ayushman Bharat and add to patients’ out-of-pocket burden. It also proposed a dedicated medical-devices subsidy fund for R&D and scaling, along with incentives and preferential government procurement for devices with at least 50% domestic content, and expansion of MedTech parks and testing facilities
