Centre Questioned on Steep Mark-Ups on Essential Drugs

Gist The Supreme Court of India has severely criticized the massive gap between the wholesale procurement price and the Maximum Retail Price MRP of essential medicines, particularly cancer drugs and statins. Hearing public interest petitions, the Court questioned why the 16% margin limit prescribed under the Drugs Prices Control Order DPCO , 2013 , is not uniformly enforced across all essential medicines to prevent systemic profiteering. This judicial intervention highlights major regulatory gaps in healthcare pricing where private hospitals exploit in-house pharmacy monopolies, indirectly draining public funds through state-sponsored schemes like Ayushman Bharat . Background Drug pricing in India is managed through the Drugs Prices Control Order DPCO , 2013 . Under this framework, life-saving medicines are classified into two categories: scheduled and non-scheduled formulations. Scheduled formulations those listed in the National List of Essential Medicines are subject to strict price caps, and the DPCO restricts the retailer margin on these drugs to exactly 16% . Non-scheduled formulations fall outside this strict ceiling, allowing pharmaceutical companies to print significantly higher MRPs, provided they do not hike prices beyond an allowed…