UPSC Express

NATIONAL PHARMACEUTICAL PRICING AUTHORITY:

• The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) is a government regulatory agency that controls the prices of pharmaceutical drugs and equipments in India.
• NPPA is an organization of the Government of India which 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.
• 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.
• At present the Drug Price Control Order (2013) regulates ceiling prices of 432 medicines based on “essentiality.”