Islamabad: The federal cabinet which met on Friday did not approve the summary for price fixation of 35 new essential medicines and one existing drug currently unavailable in the market, but instead decided to form a committee to review the proposal in detail, officials confirmed.
Federal Secretary Health Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh clarified that the proposal had not been rejected outright. “Cabinet has not rejected the proposal but decided to form a committee to consider it,” he said.
Officials in the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination and the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) said the summary had been forwarded for cabinet approval, as fixation of essential medicine prices and new molecules requires clearance at the highest level. The Prime Minister chairs the cabinet where final approval is granted.
The decision leaves pending dozens of essential medicines awaiting registration and pricing, along with a critical drug that manufacturers stopped producing due to cost constraints. Industry leaders warn that further delays could exacerbate shortages already troubling patients across the country.
According to officials, while non-essential medicines are priced by pharmaceutical companies under the deregulation policy, essential drugs remain under government control. The Prime Minister had earlier directed DRAP to have a third party review the prices of 190 non-essential categories following complaints of “unprecedented” hikes.
The pharmaceutical industry called the cabinet’s decision to return the summary “unfortunate,” warning that prolonged delays will further worsen patient suffering.
Tauqeer-ul-Haq, Chairman of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA), said that all the medicines included in the summary were essential and had already passed through a strict regulatory mechanism, including the Drug Pricing Committee and DRAP policy board. “Inordinate delays in approving their registration and pricing only add to the difficulties faced by patients,” he said.
He explained that under the drug pricing policy, no medicine in Pakistan can be priced higher than in India or Bangladesh, and hardship cases are evaluated under a set formula. “Pakistan still has some of the lowest medicine prices in the world,” he maintained.
The PPMA chairman warned that patients would remain the ultimate sufferers as new therapies could not be launched without price approvals, while production of some essential medicines had already halted due to unviable costs.
The development once again underscores the tension between the government and the pharmaceutical industry over drug pricing. While the government blames deregulation for profiteering and cartelization, industry leaders argue that excessive controls and bureaucratic delays make sustainable production impossible, leading to recurring shortages of critical drugs.
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