In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Kewal Handa, managing director of Pfizer and Vikas Dandekar, India Bureau Chief of PharmAsia News.Com discuss the issue of drug pricing.
Q: What is your view on the proposal of pricing drugs as per the prices put forth by top three retail sellers? Dandekar: The earlier plan of pricing drugs on the basis of manufacturing and conversion cost was creating problems for the industry. Most companies when they market their products of top leading brands they pump in a lot of expense on marketing which creates pressure on the price. The government finds that that is not the right approach.On the issue of pricing, a meeting of a Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Sharad Pawar is expected to be held on April 4, where a decision will be taken. One school of thought is to look at a balance procurement which happens from the government side, so there will be a different approach for pricing of those products.
One can also look at these top three brands drawn from both sides and look at balance somewhere in between. That
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