Sources said that in the last meeting of Drug Pricing Committee (DPC) held in November, 140 hardship cases of medicines were presented by different pharmaceutical companies. During the meeting, the Federal Ministry decided to increase the price of 18 drugs from Rs 1 to 17 per tablet, while the remaining 122 cases have been diverted to the provincial health departments. The price of medicines presented in these hardship cases have not been increased since 2002, while due to high cost of production followed by the energy crisis and a considerable increase in the price of raw materials, the overall cost of production of these drugs has been increased manifold. The rising cost of production has made it almost impossible for the pharmaceutical companies to manufacture these medicines.
"Resultantly, the concerned pharmaceutical companies are reluctant to manufacture these medicines. This situation has created a severe shortage in domestic market. Life-saving drugs especially those used to cure asthma patients eg, Ventolin are among medicines that are now in short supply on the local market," sources added. The government, after the formation of Drug Regulatory Authority Act (DRAP) in November, has not taken a single positive step in pricing medicines.
"In order to resolve above 14,000 pending cases of drug registration and long-standing pricing issues, the Ministry of National Regulations and Services should call a meeting of DPC after every 10 days, but for the last one month not a single DPC meeting has been held," sources said, adding that after the formation of DRAP in November, the Ministry of National Regulations has yet to appoint a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Authority.