In news– To commemorate 25 years of existence of National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), a programme was organised at the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, Delhi.
About National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)-
- It is a government regulatory agency that controls the prices of pharmaceutical drugs in India.
- NPPA was constituted vide Government of India Resolution in August 1997 as an attached office of the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers as an independent Regulator for pricing of drugs and to ensure availability and accessibility of medicines at affordable prices.
- The NPPA regularly publishes lists of medicines and their maximum ceiling prices
- As per the provisions of DPCO, NPPA fixes two types of prices viz. Ceiling prices and Non-ceiling prices for medicines in the controlled category.
Its Functions-
It has been entrusted inter-alia, with the following functions;
- To implement and enforce the provisions of the Drugs Price Control Order (DPCO), 1995/2013 in accordance with the powers delegated to it.
- To undertake and/or sponsor relevant studies in respect of pricing of drugs/formulations.
- To monitor the availability of drugs, identify shortages, if any, and to take remedial steps.
- To collect/maintain data on production, exports and imports, market share of individual companies, the profitability of companies etc. for bulk drugs and formulations.
- To deal with all legal matters arising out of the decisions of the Authority.
- To render advice to the Central Government on changes/revisions in the drug policy.
- To render assistance to the Central Government in the parliamentary matters relating to the drug pricing.
Integrated Pharmaceutical Database Management System 2.0 (IPDMS 2.0)-
- To mark the occasion, IPDMS 2.0, an integrated responsive cloud-based application developed by NPPA with technical support from Centre for Advance Computing (C-DAC) has been launched.
- IPDMS 2.0 is envisaged to optimize synergies in operations in order to promote Government’s thrust on ‘Ease of Doing Business’ as it would provide a single window for submissions of various forms as mandated under Drug Price Control Order (DPCO),2013.
- It would also enable paperless functioning of NPPA and facilitate the stakeholders to connect with National Pharma Pricing Regulator from across the country.
- Also, Pharma Sahi Daam 2.0 App with updated features was launched on the occasion.
- The App has features like speech recognition; search medicines brand/formulation wise; share feature along with consumer complaint handling system.
Source: PIB
