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Prices of knee implants
Why is it in the news?
- The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has decided to allow knee implant companies to increase the maximum retail prices (MRP) of their products by not more than 10% this year.
- NPPA is India’s drug pricing regulator.
More in the news
- The development comes around two years after the regulator first slashed MRPs of knee implants by up to 69%.
- Since then, the government claims that there has been “increased access” due to these medical devices becoming more affordable to patients.
- Knee implants are devices used to replace parts of damaged knee joints in patients.
- Following a review of the move in August 2018, NPPA had decided to extend the capped ceiling price for another year.
- The extension was granted despite knee implants being classified as a non-scheduled medical device, for which the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013, permits an annual price increase of up to 10%.
- About NPPA(1) NPPA is an organization of the Government of India which was established to fix/revise the prices of controlled bulk drugs.(2) It enforce prices and availability of the medicines in the country.(3) The organization is also entrusted with the task of recovering amounts overcharged by manufacturers for the controlled drugs from the consumers.(4) It also monitors the prices of decontrolled drugs in order to keep them at reasonable levels.
Source
The Hindu.