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Court frees seven drugs from price control

A Bombay court on Friday ruled that seven drugs were wrongly included in a price-controlled list by the Indian government, an industry official said.

"The court has said the seven drugs are not covered under DPCO, upholding the petitions by four drugmakers that they were wrongly included in the first place," he said.

DPCO refers to Drug Prices (Control) Order which sets prices of drugs based on market share and sales criteria.

The ruling effectively means the list of price controlled drugs would be pruned to 67 from 74, the official said.

The drugs are the anti-infectives norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin doxycycline and cloxacillin, the diabetes drug gliplizide and the asthma drugs theophylline and salbutamol.

The petition was filed in 1995 by Cipla, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Unichem Laboratories and US Vitamins.

"This development only emphasises the government urgently needs to take a re-look at drug pricing and leave it to market forces," Cipla managing director Amar Lulla said.

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