Pharma major Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd said the new pricing policy might impact 3-4 per cent of its finished dosage sales in the domestic market.
The Department of Pharmaceuticals had notified the Drug Prices Control Order 2013, which came into effect from May 15. It covers 348 medicines including the some life-saving drugs and provides for up to 80 per cent reduction in drug prices.
“At a company level, we were aware of the upcoming policy and have factored in the impact and plans in place to ride over this impact,’’ K Satish Reddy, Vice–Chairman and MD, Dr Reddy’s, said in a statement on Friday.
The pricing policy was ‘welcome’ as the consumer would stand to benefit with lowered prices of medicines, Reddy said.
“However, there is a need for the Government to balance the interests of improving affordability of medicines with growth for the Indian pharmaceutical industry which is heavily dependent on investments into R&D,’’ he added.
Meanwhile, some other companies do not see much impact. “I don’t think there will be big impact. It is applicable only to some categories of drugs and their producers,’’ P. Bhaskara Narayana, Chief Financial Officer, Natco Pharma, told Business Line .
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.