National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)

IN NEWS:

• NPPA is monitoring price increase of critical medical equipments for COVID-19.

ABOUT NPPA:

• NPPA is a government regulatory agency that controls the prices of pharmaceutical drugs in India.
• It functions under Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizers.

Major objectives of NPPA:

• NPPA was established to fix/ revise the prices of controlled bulk drugs and formulations and to enforce prices and availability of the medicines in the country, under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 1995.
• The organization is also entrusted with the task of recovering amounts overcharged by manufacturers for the controlled drugs from the consumers.
• It also monitors the prices of decontrolled drugs in order to keep them at reasonable levels.

Functions:

• To implement and enforce the provisions of the Drugs (Prices Control) Order.
• To monitor the availability of drugs, identify shortages and to take remedial steps.
• To maintain data on production, exports and imports, market share of individual companies, profitability of companies etc. for bulk drugs.
• To render assistance to the Central Government in the parliamentary matters relating to the drug pricing.

PRELIMS QUESTION:

Q. Consider the following statements regarding “National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)”:

1. It functions under Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizers.
2. NPPA was established to fix/ revise the prices of controlled bulk drugs.

Which among the above statements is/are correct:

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Answer to Prelims question