Top Section
Explore Business Standard
Don’t miss the latest developments in business and finance.
The Union health ministry has notified the inclusion of coronary stents in the National List of Essential Medicines, 2022, a move that will help make these life-saving medical devices more affordable. The move is based on the recommendations by an expert committee constituted to review the inclusion of stents in the list based on requirement. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) will now fix the price of coronary stents. On November 6, the Standing National Committee on Medicines (SNCM) had submitted its recommendation for inclusion of coronary stents in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), 2022 in two categories -- Bare Metal Stents (BMS) and Drug Eluting Stents (DES) which include metallic DES and bioresorbable vascular scaffold (VBS)/biodegradable stents. According to minutes of the SNCM meeting, vice chairman Dr Y K Gupta stated that coronary stents were earlier included in NLEM, 2015 through a separate notification based on the recommendations of an
Drug pricing regulator NPPA undertook necessary steps to ensure availability of life saving essential medicines across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Economic Survey said on Friday. Drug prices in India are regulated to ensure continued availability and affordability of essential medicines with improved access to consumers, it added. "National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)... has played an active role in addressing the exigencies arising out of COVID-19 pandemic and undertook necessary measures to ensure continued availability of life saving essential medicines throughout the country," the survey said. The regulator invoked extraordinary powers in public interest to ensure that policy enhances access to life saving drugs like Heparin as well as medical oxygen, it added. Timely intervention by NPPA eased the situation of medical oxygen availability throughout the country, especially in distant and far-flung areas. The survey said NPPA also ensured availabil