India adds more cancer, HIV/AIDS drugs to essential medicines list

The revision comes after months of deliberations by a committee of experts formed by the central government last May. Views of the pharmaceutical industry and NGOs were also considered, the CDSCO said.

The committee recommended that the list, which is effective immediately, be revised every three years.

In initial thoughts, industry executives said they were yet to study the list's impact.

"We will be seeking clarification and a better understanding of its implications," said Ranjana Smetacek, director general of the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) which represents large foreign drugmakers.

The Indian Pharmaceuticals Alliance, which represents large local drugmakers, did not respond to requests for immediate comment.

It is likely that medicines in the new list will be brought under price control, as was done with the previous list, some in the industry said.

Drug pricing is a contentious issue in India, where about 70 percent of people live on less than $2 a day and health insurance is inadequate.

India contributes roughly 1 percent of its total gross domestic product to healthcare, among the lowest levels of funding in the world.

Industry executives say drug prices in India are also among the lowest in the world.

India's drug pricing regulator has struggled in the past year to implement price caps and expand them to cover more drugs.

When it fixed prices of about 100 medicines citing public interest last year, the industry fired back with lawsuits.

The government soon curbed the NPPA's powers, restricting it from fixing the price of medicines not on the essential medicines list. (http://reut.rs/1Ocfo6n)

Price caps cover roughly 30 percent of the drugs sold in India.