Context: The Supreme Court asked the Centre to explore capping prices and trade margins across medicines and medical products amid concerns over excessive mark-ups.
Centre’s proposal:30% trade-margin cap on patented and non-patented cancer medicines.
Existing provision: The Drugs (Prices Control) Order (DPCO), 2013 prescribes a 16% retailer margin for relevant scheduled formulations under its pricing framework.
Issue highlighted: Some cancer medicines reportedly had mark-ups up to 1,000%; a cardiac stent costing around ₹5,000 was reportedly sold by hospitals for over ₹25,000.
Legal basis:Essential Commodities Act, 1955, under which the Centre regulates drug prices through the DPCO.
Authority:National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), under the Department of Pharmaceuticals, implements and monitors drug-price controls.
Next step: The Supreme Court directed the Centre to work out modalities by October 27.
Additional Prelims Facts
DPCO, 2013: Issued under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955; provides the framework for fixing and revising prices of scheduled formulations.
NPPA:Fixes or revises prices of scheduled drugs, monitors prices of non-scheduled formulations and ensures compliance with price-control orders.
