Reining in soaring prices of drugs

The High Court in a welcome rule recently directed the authorities concerned to take necessary measures aimed at stopping the uncontrolled price hike of medicines. The apex court's order could not come at a more opportune time when drug companies were having a field day setting and pushing up prices of their products arbitrarily. This illegal practice was taking place right under the nose of the Health Service Division and the Director General of the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) whose job it is to fix the prices of drugs under Section 30 of Drug and Cosmetics Act 2023. This provision allows drug companies to freely price more than 97 per cent of about 20,000 branded medicines they produce in the country, while the drug authorities have the control only on 460 drugs under 117 generic names so far as their pricing is concerned.
Worse yet, reports say, the pharmaceutical companies hardly manufacture even 50 per cent of those generic drugs of which the prices are fixed by DGDA. Notably, the High Court passed the order after an initial hearing of a petition in public interest submitted by the Consumer Association of Bangladesh (CAB), which attached a newspaper cutting containing a report that said drug prices were increased from 7.0 to 140 per cent by drug companies in just two weeks. In fact, prices of medicines are going up for the last two months. Especially, increase in prices of antibiotic tablets, insulin injections for diabetic patients, etc., has badly patients requiring those drugs.
It may be recalled that earlier in February last year, the CAB, in a letter raised the issue to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare Ministry and Bangladesh Competition Commission complaining that the drug companies were not even manufacturing 60 drugs out of the 117 as mandated by the Drugs (Control) Ordinance, 1982. On the other hand, they were pricing the brand medicines not covered by the 117 generic names at will. It is indeed a sad commentary on our drug manufacturers that rather than being ethical and service-oriented, they have entered the dog-eat-dog world of competition to make profits at the expense of the common people. In its letter to the parliamentary body, the CAB further noted that DGDA itself had not been properly doing its job of fixing drug prices as mandated by the said drug control ordinance as it upwardly adjusted the prices of 53 drugs. Dollar crisis, rising costs of imported raw materials, etc., were the arguments DGDA's price fixing committee put forward in this regard. Not surprisingly, the pharmaceutical companies have also been advancing similar arguments in support of their price hiking spree.
Clearly, the lackadaisical approach of the government agencies concerned to enforcement of discipline in the drug market has given rise to this anarchy in medicine pricing. Not only drug manufacturers, retailers too have taken advantage of the situation to charge higher prices for medicines to the dismay of the general public and critical patients dependent on certain drugs. Against this backdrop, the apex court has, as expected, questioned the legality of inaction of the DGDA in this regard and hence ordered it to fix the prices of medicines as per section 30 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act-2023. Implementation of the court order is mandatory but the drug authority should do more to make medicines affordable for the less privileged.