Kerala Sets Up Drug Price Monitor | 05 Feb 2019

Kerala has become the first State to set up a Price Monitoring and Research Unit (PMRU) to track violation of prices of essential drugs and medical devices under the Drugs Price Control Order (DPCO).

Composition

• PMRU will be registered as a society with following composition:
  • State Health Secretary (Chairman)
  • Drugs Controller (Member secretary)
  • State government representative (Member)
  • Representatives of private pharmaceutical companies (Members)
  • Representative from consumer rights protection fora (Member)
• The society would also have an executive committee headed by the Drugs Controller.

Background

• This comes more than five years after the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) proposed such a system for the States and the Union Territories.
• The suggestion to set up PMRUs was made against the backdrop of the lack of a field-level link between the NPPA and the State Drugs Controllers and State Drug Inspectors to monitor drug prices.

Objective

• The PMRU will work to develop synergy between the central and state authorities.
• It will provide technical help to the State Drug Controllers and the NPPA to monitor notified prices of medicines.
• Detect violation of the provisions of the DPCO.
• Look at price compliance.
• To collect test samples of medicines, and collect and compile market-based data of scheduled as well as non-scheduled formulations.