Government has capped the prices of 42 essential medicines used in treatment of various ailments including tuberculosis, cancer and cardiac diseases thereby reducing their cost by up to 15 per cent.
Drug price regulator, National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, NPPA in a notification on its website said it has fixed or revised ceiling prices of 45 scheduled formulations of Schedule-I under Drugs (Price Control) Amendment Order, 2016.
An official source said out of the 45, the prices of 42 medicines have been reduced by up to 15 per cent.
NPPA said manufacturers not complying with the ceiling price would be liable to deposit the overcharged amount along with interest.
The government fixes the prices of essential drugs based on the simple average of all medicines in a particular therapeutic segment, having sales of more than 1 per cent.