From April 1, consumers will have to spend more for common medications, including painkillers and antibiotics, among others. The prices of 384 essential medications and over 900 formulations would witness more than 12 per cent increase in the Wholesale Price Index (WPI).
“Based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) data provided by the Office of the Economic Advisor, Department of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the annual change in the WPI works out as 12.1218 per cent during the calendar year 2022 over the corresponding period in 2021, a notification from the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), an independent regulator for pricing of drugs to ensure availability and accessibility of medicines at affordable prices,” said on March 27.
As the development comes, the pharma industry’s strive might see a relief because it has been struggling with a rise in production costs due to a number of factors since the COVID-19 outbreak. The pandemic had affected the industry by increasing the cost of freight, plastic and packaging materials, as well as the prices of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs)—the raw materials used for manufacturing medicines.
“Our organisation is always following the instructions of NPPA, and also instructs its members to follow the same. The forthcoming increase will help the manufacturing companies to compensate the losses they are having because of heavy increase in APIs in the past,” said Rajiv Singhal, Secretary General, All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD).
WPI measures the changes in goods’ prices at a selected stage before those reach into the market. The medicines that will witness a price hike next month onwards include paracetamol (for fever), ibuprofen (painkiller), cetirizine (for sneezing and allergic symptoms), ivermectin (for roundworm infections), amoxicillin (for cold or flu), and others that are a part of the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) prepared by the ministry of health.
To promote access to affordable healthcare, Malini Aisola, co-convener of the All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN), voiced concern that the new WPI will trigger increases in the ceiling prices under the DPCO provisions for fixing prices for scheduled formulations.
“The increase is the highest since the DPCO 2013 came into force, and this is the second year in a row that the WPI is higher than the annual permitted price hike permitted for non-scheduled formulations (10 per cent). Since such a drastic hike will distort the price controls in place on essential medicines, the government should intervene in the interest of maintaining the affordability of these drugs. Such high back-to-back price increases are undermining the purpose of price fixation for essential medicines,” she said.
Throughout the past few years, the annual increase in WPI has only slightly raised prices; and it has typically ranged between one and two per cent. However, it’s the second consecutive year that the WPI has exceeded the 10 per cent yearly permitted price increase for non-scheduled formulations (presenting a serious risk of abuse).