Govt adds 39 drugs in NLEM, NPPA to do final price cap

These 39 commonly used medications include drugs to fight cancer, diabetes, tuberculosis and HIV apart from some antivirals and several others used in Covid-19 therapy.

This came after Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Minister of State for Health Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar made a visit to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to see their research work and released the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) on Thursday evening at an event at the ICMR.

The modified list, compiled by an expert committee under the Indian Council of Medical Research, was handed to health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday, reports TOI.

The list will be evaluated by the Standing Committee on Affordable Medicines and Health Products (SCAMHP) to determine which medicines require price capping, and the final price capping will be done by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) based on the SCAMHP's recommendations, adds the daily.

In this regard, the Union Health Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya, tweeted, "Visited the Indian Council of Medical Research, along with @DrBharatiPPawar ji and reviewed the ongoing research work. Had a good discussion on new ideas and innovations in research with the scientists of @ICMRDELHI. Also, released the national list of essential medicines."

According to a recent media report in Money control , the list of 39 new drugs includes Amikacin , Azacitidine , Bedaquiline , Bendamustine Hydrochloride , Buprenorphine , Buprenorphine+Naloxone , Cefuroxime, Dabigatran , Daclatasvir , Darunavir+Ritonavir , Delamanid , Dolutegravir , Fludarabine, Fludrocortisone , Fulvestrant , Insulin Glargine , Irinotecan HCL Trihydrate , Itraconazole, Ivermectin , Lamivudine , Latanoprost , Lenalidomide , Montelukast , Mupirocin , Nicotine replacement therapy, Nitazoxanide , Ormeloxifene , Phenoxymethyl penicillin , Procaine Benzylpenicillin , Rotavirus vaccine, Secnidazole , Teneligliptin , Tenofovir+Lamivudine+Dolutegravir , Tenofovir+Alafenamide Fumarate (TAF) , Terbinafine, and Valganiclovir .

On the other hand, 16 medicines which are removed from the new National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) are Alteplase, Atenolol, Bleaching Powder, Cetrimide, Erythromycin, Ethinylestradiol + Norethisterone, Ganciclovir, Lamivudine + Nevirapine + Stavudine, Leflunomide, Nicotinamide, Pegylated interferon Alfa 2a and pegylated interferon Alfa 2b, Pentamidine, Prilocaine + Lignocaine, Riofabutin, Stavudine + Lamivudine and Sucralfate.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has been working for a long time to extend price control on medicines. The commonly used drugs which were brought under the price cap include Teneligliptin--an anti-diabetic drug, popular anti-TB drugs, Ivermectin--used in Covid treatment, and Rotavirus vaccine, reports IANS.

IANS further adds that the government had begun an exercise for the revision of the NLEM, which was notified in 2015 and implemented in 2016.

It is a departure from the present practice, where all essential medicines automatically go under price control. The Standing National Committee on Medicines was tasked with preparing a list of which medicines should be available in adequate numbers and assured quantity.

The committee headed by Balram Bhargava, Secretary in the Department of Health Research and Director General of the ICMR, sent the list to a second committee comprising senior officials from NITI Aayog, Health Secretary and Secretary in the Department of Pharmaceuticals, which decided on which drugs are to be put under the price cap.