Ouch: NPPA slaps Novartis with Rs 300 cr fine for over pricing

Swiss pharmaceutical major Novartis has reportedly been slapped with a fine of Rs 300 crore by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority for over pricing its popular painkilling medicine Voveran.

The Business Standard today reported that the pharmaceutical company has also been served a show cause notice to explain in two weeks why action should not be taken against it for overcharging.

The NPPA had put diclofenac, a key ingredient of Voveran, under direct price control in May 2013 along with 384 other medicines. Voveran, incidentally, is one of Novartis’ best selling drugs in the country.

Pharmaceutical companies have challenged the NPPA’s authority to fix the prices of drugs outside the list of National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM).

Under the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) 2013, the Government already controls the prices of 348 drugs listed in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM).

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The Department of Pharmaceuticals has withdrawn the guidelines issued on 29 May that gave the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) the powers to fix the prices of drugs that are not on the essential medicines list.

However, medicines like Voveran have not been affected by the government’s order since it does not affect past orders by the NPPA. However, the NPPA order on July 10 which had capped the prices of 108 cardiac and diabetes drugs has been withdrawn after the government’s order.