Domestic pharma firms should focus on quality: Mansukh Mandaviya

New Delhi: Domestic pharmaceutical companies should focus on quality and development of innovative products which offer more value in global markets, Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Monday.

Speaking at an event here to commemorate Silver Jubilee celebrations of National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), the Union chemicals and fertilisers minister said that if the industry consolidates its research initiatives, it can further offer solutions in the global market. "We are there in terms of volumes with generic products. We are already exporting medications in containers. I wish the industry in the coming days will come with innovative products where one small envelope of formulations is equal to a container in terms of value," Mandaviya, who is also Union health minister, said.

The minister assured the pharma industry of continuous support from the government. Elaborating on the role of NPPA, Mandaviya said the organisation is critical as it deals with the pricing of the pharmaceutical products in the country. The NPPA is mandated to fix/revise the prices of controlled bulk drugs and formulations and enforce prices and availability of the medicines in the country. It also monitors the prices of decontrolled drugs in order to keep them at reasonable levels. The regulator implements and enforces the provisions of the Drugs (Prices Control) Order.

It is also entrusted with the task of recovering amounts overcharged by manufacturers for the controlled drugs. Mandaviya launched the integrated Pharmaceutical Database Management System (PDMS) 2.0 version, which helps in facilitating online submission of mandatory cost data by pharmaceutical companies. "I have been told that 800-900 companies have started to feed data through this initiative. There are 3,000 companies and they should also start sharing the data, it is very important," he added.

PDMS 2.0 is an integrated cloud platform to 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 the national pharma pricing regulator from across the country. The minister also launched the updated Pharma Sahi Dham App which now comes with updated features like speech recognition; availability in Hindi and English; share button and bookmarking medicines. Mandaviya said the pharma industry is just not a commercial activity but is responsible for taking care of the health of the citizens.