FDA finds hospitals charging up to 52 times drug cost

CH NEWS BENGALURU Karnataka’s drug regulator has uncovered wide gaps between procurement costs and patient billing for high-cost medicines and hospital consumables. Inspections conducted by the Food Safety and Drug Administration (FDA) found that pharmaceutical companies were supplying medicines to hospitals at heavily discounted institutional rates, while patients were being charged at or near the printed Maximum Retail Price (MRP). The resulting markups ranged from 10 times to more than 52 times the actual procurement cost. The findings emerged from a special verification drive conducted on September 25 and 26 at wholesale premises, hospitals and other establishments in Bengaluru and various districts. The inspections covered 189 high-cost drugs and more than 768 consumable items. The department identified 253 drugs with extreme pricing anomalies and plans to submit the findings to the Central Government. Health and Family Welfare Minister has written to the Union Health Minister seeking national measures to address exorbitant patient billing. Karnataka has sought mandatory disclosure of both landing cost and MRP on patient bills. The State has also sought expansion of price control under the Drugs Price Control Order (DPCO), regulation of trade margins on essential high-value medicines and consumables, and measures to ensure institutional discounts are passed on to patients. At present, scheduled drugs under the DPCO are subject to ceiling prices, while non-scheduled drugs have no specific cap on retailer margins. Medical devices and consumables also have limited price regulation. The FDA said the verification exercise would continue in phases, with the next round focusing on anti-retroviral medicines, newer-generation and critical antibiotics, medical devices and hospital consumables.