The government is all set to bring three mass-use drugs under price control on which chemists take a hefty margin. The drugs are anti-inflammatory pill nimesulide, allergy medication cetrizine and anti-ulcer drug omeprazole. Almost every leading drug maker has a presence in the segments.

The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers has asked the drug price regulator to bring the drugs under price control so that the government can regulate their retail price as well as the hefty trade margins that some companies give to the chemists.

Syncom Healthcare’s CTZ, Cadila Healthcare’s Ceticad, Cyper Pharma’s Alego, Lyka Labs’ Lycet, Wockhardt’s Setride, Cipla’s Cetcip and Ranbaxy’s Stannist are some cetrizine brands that may be affected by the move.

Ranbaxy’s Pyrestat-100, Wockhardt’s Merisulide, Cadila Healthcare’s Nimfast, Cipla’s NICIP and Lupin’s Lupisulide are among the nimesulide brands while Ankur Drugs’ Omesec-20, Cadila Healthcare’s Omeprazole and Wockhardt’s Merizole are the omeprazole formulations that will be hit.

Certain brands of the medicines, which chemists get for Rs 1.20, are sold to the consumer for Rs 34.80. The manufacturer who participates in government tenders provides it for Rs 1.20. The Ministry has taken this view following its failed attempt to impose a cap on the margin in percentage terms. No new medicine has been brought under the list of price-controlled medicines since 1995. In fact, two drugs were removed from price control in 1997.

Price regulator National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has secured the cost of production of the drugs with the help of public sector pharma companies in order to arrive at the price to be fixed. The idea is to control the prices of raw materials as well as finished formulations. The Ministry has been concerned about trade margins since a government study in the Capital revealed that drug companies allow chemists to take margins 29 times the price at which they buy the medicine from the manufacturer.

Earlier, when the government pressured companies to lower trade margins, manufacturers agreed to reduce the prices of 886 formulation packs. After Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said the companies did not honour their commitment, they recently reduced prices of 250 drugs.