NPPA cancels study access of medicine at affordable prices

The Authority cited "administrative exigencies" as the reason for cancelling the Request for Proposal. In addition, it has requested that all bidders who have placed bids pick up their bid documents in person by visiting the NPPA's Deputy Director at the office.

Earlier, the Medical Dialogues Team had reported that the apex price regulator authority, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), had invited a proposal for conducting a study on "the drug policies of different countries to access medicine at affordable prices."

For the same, the NPPA released a public notice inviting tenders in the form of a Request for Proposal (RFP) for conducting the study entitled as "To study the drug pricing policies of different countries/ region and lessons learnt from these countries/ regions in terms of access to medicine at affordable prices."

As per the terms of reference given in the invitation letter, the objectives of the assessment studies were to understand the drug pricing methodology adopted in the international market and to learn from the lessons learnt or best practises from various countries or regions in terms of availability and affordability of medicine.

The scope of work was to examine regulatory policies or frameworks on drug pricing in at least ten countries, to examine the operational implementation of drug pricing policies in various countries and identify best practises or lessons learned, and to examine other policy aspects that affect the availability and affordability of medicine in these countries.

However, according to a recent NPPA tender notice released on February 21, 2022, this request for a proposal for the above-mentioned study has been terminated due to administrative demand.

Accordingly, through the notice published by the apex price regulator authority, NPPA, on February 21, 2022, the authority stated "all bidders who have submitted their bids in response to said RFP are requested to collect their bid documents personally by visiting the NPPA office/ undersigned."

In addition, the notice further added, "Bidders are requested to ensure that the representative, who is coming to collect the documents, is carrying a letter authorizing him/her to collect the documents on behalf of their organization. The letter must be on the organization letterhead and must contain a specimen signature of the representative sent to collect bid documents along with other details such as tender no. date and bidder's name, etc."