Supreme Court orders govt to decide new drug prices in four weeks

Says drug regulators are much more powerful in the world but DRAP works under pharmaceutical firms

ISLAMABAD:

The apex court on Monday ordered the federal government to decide new drug prices within four weeks as it expressed dissatisfaction over operation of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), which, it said, works under pharmaceutical companies.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan issued the order while hearing a petition filed by a private pharmaceutical firm against reduction in prices of medicines.

The Ministry of Health on December 31, 2018 issued a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) to fix the maximum retail price (MRP) of 889 medicines. The ministry had reduced prices of 395 medicines; increased prices of 464 medicines and kept prices of 30 medicines unchanged.

However, the pharmaceutical industry increased prices of some medicines by up to 100% to 500%. The government on May 4, 2019 announced to reverse the increase in medicine prices after a backlash. During the hearing of the petition on Monday, the counsel for the private pharmaceutical firm said the government while reducing the medicine prices had violated a Supreme Court order. According to the council the SC had ordered government to freeze prices at the level of year 2013.

The chief justice, however, said the court had not issued any such order. A three-judge SC bench on August 4, 2018 directed DRAP to decide within 10 weeks all pending cases of pharmaceutical companies regarding medicine prices, while ordering the government to freeze the then existing prices of all medicines till a decision on the cases.

Justice Gulzar Ahmed noted that drug regulatory authorities in the world are very strong but DRAP is working under the pharmaceutical companies. DRAP keeps fluctuating drug prices, he added.

Appearing before the bench, a DRAP official said the authority is trying to control drug prices. He also took exception to an observation of the CJ that DRAP is operating through officials on deputation and said: “No one is working on deputation at the director level in DRAP.”

Justice Ijazul Ahsan also asked why it takes government so much time to fix drug prices. The CJ noted that DRAP should determine drug prices in a day. Justice Ahsan asked if the government decided drug prices on recommendations of a relevant task force. He said the government could not defer the matter of drug prices indefinitely.

The additional attorney general (AAG) said the government has received recommendations of the task force but it has not yet made a decision on the recommendations. The AAG said the Drug Pricing Committee (DPC) has no authority to determine drug prices. The CJ said the task force has also no legal basis. He said the DPC determines drug prices but the government also formed a task force on the advice of the DPC. The bench ordered the federal government to decide drug prices within four weeks and adjourned hearing of the case.

At the last hearing of the case on Friday, the AAG told the bench that the task force and not the federal cabinet determined prices of medicines. Justice Ahsan had noted that the task force was apparently using delaying tactics instead of making a decision on the matter.

With input from APP