SC to government: Cap prices of non-patented medicines
The Supreme Court of India has pressured the government to expand price controls on non-patented medicines, citing massive profit margins on drugs and medical consumables. While the government recently capped trade margins for anti-cancer drugs, the court argued that patients are being exploited across a much wider range of essential medical products.
Why it matters
This intervention addresses the high cost of healthcare in India and signals a more aggressive judicial stance on regulating pharmaceutical pricing to protect consumer interests.
NEW DELHI: With the Centre failing to give even "one justification" to the satisfaction of the court in favour of patients for keeping the maximum retail price of medicines at exorbitant levels but also accepting that profit margins for drugs and medical consumables reach up to 1,000%, Supreme Court on Monday said that the price of all non-patented drugs and consumables should also be controlled and it should not be confined only to anti-cancer medicines as done by govt recently.As solicitor general Tushar Mehta and ASG Aishwarya Bhati informed SC about the decision to cap the trade margins on anti-cancer drugs at 30% of the maximum retail price, the court appreciated govt's decision but raised questions on why pricing of other medicines should not be capped.
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