Difference in drug prices makes HC order constitution of panel

SHIMLA: Finding huge differences in the prices of essential drugs, including life saving ones, the Himachal Pradesh High Court after hearing a public interest litigation has taken the state authorities and pharmaceutical companies to task for drawing huge profits out of those suffering and poor.
In his petition, Amandeep Chauhan drew court's attention to the differences in prices of medicines at chemist shops and fair price shops run by government agency State Civil Supply Corp.The petitioner sought directions for formulating a uniform drug policy and for regulation of retail prices of drugs.
The division bench of Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjay Karol after examining evidence produced in shape of cash memos and copies of original medicines observed, "Such an increase shocks the judicial conscience…. It only shows that at the cost of poor patients, huge profits are being made."
The court recorded that Atorvastatin, a life-saving drug for heart patients, manufactured by Hetero Labs Limited when marketed by GenX Pharma under brand name GenxVast was priced Rs 12, but the same drug manufactured by the same company when marketed by Glaxosmithkline (GSK) under brand name Lilo it had a print price of Rs 33.75. The same salt manufactured by Solrex Pharma and marketed by Ranbaxy under brand name Storvas was priced at Rs 97.90 for a strip of 10 tablets.
The judges observed "The salt is the same. The drug is commonly manufactured. There is no patent with regard to the drug. No research and development (R&D) is involved in the manufacture of such a drug. Therefore, the price difference is astounding and mind boggling."
In the case of Lowcap 60mg injection, manufactured by Samartha Pharma, it was sold by State Civil Supply Corp at IGMC retail store for about Rs 700 after imposing VAT on the maximum retail price of Rs 638, but the same injection when bought at a private chemist near IGMC cost Rs 225 after VAT charge of Rs 5 was levied.
Expressing shock the judges pointed out that these government-run fair price shops "were actually selling medicines at rates much higher than those at which the same medicine was sold by a private chemist".
"It is obvious that to defeat the purpose of prescribing generic drugs, the pharmaceutical companies are now selling the same drug under different brands and pricing them both below and above the price of the generic drugs," observed the judges.
Holding that pharma companies were entitled to earn profit, the judges said, but the profit should be reasonable profits. Holding that freebies to medical practitioners was unethical and had been prohibited, the judges referring to another case pointed out that a petition by pharmaceutical industry for permitting such expenses to be deducted while calculating taxes was struck down as it could not be claimed as business expenses.
The court observed that at the five Jan Aushadi shops set up in Himachal to provide quality, branded and generic medicines there were only 319 items available and only had 14 essential medicines available.
The judges directed constitution of a committee of 13 specialist doctors to draw up a list of life saving drugs and where these medicines could be made available at the cheapest rates. The committee has been asked to prepare a report by January 10, when the case is listed for its next hearing.