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Steep fall in prices of medicines
(Times of India, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Feb. 17--LUCKNOW, India -- Cut-throat competition, low manufacturing costs and rise in bulk production of majority of important medicines have sent their prices crashing.
To begin with, antibiotics, the chemical formulations used to kill bacteria, and counter infections, are being sold at 35-40 percent low prices.
Take the example of commonly used antibiotic, Mahacef which was sold at Rs 20 per tablet a month ago. Today, the price per tablet is Rs 10.
Another example is of antibiotic Flotral, a strip of which costed Rs 180 a month back. The new price is Rs 80 per strip.
One of the most expensive antibiotic Lipospan, the pack of four tablets of which was worth 400 rupees in the retail market, have now slipped to Rs 290.75.
The chemists are attributing this drop in prices to the drop in the cost of a basic salt, used in the manufacture, 'Cefixime'.
The other significant group, the prices of which were slashed in the last four weeks, is painkillers. However, the drop was nominal.
Believed to be the most effective pain reliever Etody of powers 60, 90 and 120 which earlier cost Rs 9, 15 and 18 per tablet, respectively, has dropped by three rupees per tablet.
Purchasing tablet Combiflam -- assumed a must for every household, would save Rs 3 per strip. The only exception in the group is Voveron SR, the price of which increased by Rs 4 per strip.
While, the price of general drugs like Disprin and Paracetamol did not change, the price of several life saving drugs came down drastically.
One example is, Aspirin delayed tablets, the price per strip was Rs 35 earlier, as compared to Rs 2.66 per strip now. The medicine is recommended to heart patients.
Talking to TOI, a drug retailer, Vivek Agrawal said, "The reason for the decrease is lowering of the price of several basic salts required for the production of medicines, lower manufacturing and research costs, demand for quality but low-priced medicines, competition among the companies and bulk production going up."
RC Goel, another chemist, said: "These factors have put the consumer at an advantage as they would be getting the same medicine at a reduced rate.
But this does not mean that the retailers or whole-sellers would be incurring losses. Only the overall profit percentage would be affected by a small fraction like 1-1.5."
Explaining the reason for this, a prominent office-bearer of the Lucknow Chemist Druggist Association, told TOI, "The losses would be bearable for us because the pharmaceutical companies would cushion them by adjusting the manufacturing cost.
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