NEW DELHI
The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has implemented a major pricing shakeup, fixing the retail rates of 39 essential drug formulations while simultaneously raising the price of life-saving anti-rabies immunoglobulin. The extensive regulatory exercise, conducted under the official Drugs (Prices Control) Order, aims to keep vital therapies for diabetes, hypertension, HIV, and heart disease affordable for patients.
According to the official gazette notification issued following the pricing watchdog’s 148th meeting, the retail cost of anti-rabies immunoglobulin has been revised upward by 6.49 percent. The medicine will now cost Rs 119.48 per milliliter, up from its previous rate of Rs 112.19 per milliliter. This upward adjustment follows a prior decision in March allowing a minor annual price hike for items on the National List of Essential Medicines based on the shifting Wholesale Price Index.
To safeguard consumer interests, the NPPA clamped strict price caps on widely used daily medications. A highly common combination tablet containing amlodipine, bisoprolol, and telmisartan, regularly prescribed to treat severe chronic hypertension, has been capped at Rs 14.74 per tablet. Additionally, a critical triple-combination capsule of clopidogrel, aspirin, and atorvastatin used to prevent sudden heart attacks and strokes will now cost a maximum of Rs 6.37 per capsule. In eye care, the retail price for nepafenac and moxifloxacin ophthalmic solution was finalized at Rs 68.64 per milliliter.
The NPPA warned that any pharmaceutical manufacturer or marketing firm caught charging patients above these newly established caps will face immediate penalties. Overcharging companies will be legally forced to return the excess money alongside hefty interest rates.
In a separate landmark decision, the pricing regulator granted a special five-year price control exemption to Pneubevax 14. Developed by Hyderabad-based Biological E, it is India’s first indigenous 14-valent Pneumococcal Polysaccharide Conjugate Vaccine. Because it was developed through domestic research and holds a valid patent, it qualifies for a temporary regulatory holiday to encourage local medical innovation, though the company must still transparently report its market pricing to the government.