Regulatory authority told to resolve drugs pricing issue

SHC directs Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan to decide the matter as soon as possible

Karachi

The Sindh High Court has directed the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) to submit reports on the fixing and increasing of drug prices in light of the representations filed by pharmaceutical companies.

The direction came at a hearing of lawsuits of pharmaceutical companies regarding problems with fixing and increase prices of drugs.

The plaintiffs’ counsel -- Rasheed A Razvi, Abdul Sattar Pirzada and Omer Soomro – said the matter was substantially about not only fixing prices but also a mechanism for it. They said insofar as the 2015 policy was concerned, it had no bearing on the representations filed with the drug regulatory authority by pharmaceutical companies. 

They said that in substance the provisions of Section 12 of the Drug Regulatory Act would be applicable as against the policy of 2015.

Additional Attorney General Salman Talibuddin submitted that insofar as Section 12 was concerned, it did not curtail the right of the authority to issue a policy or a mechanism for discharging their duty. 

The plaintiffs submitted that though vires of the policy was sub judice before the division bench of the court, as long it was prevailing the scope would be applied to all the representations, including those filed before the enactment of the policy. 

The counsel asked that a policy should be framed over whether the March 6, 2015 policy could be made applicable to the drugs in relation to which the representations were filed and those which had been pending for almost a decade.

The court observed that defendant authority was at liberty to take up the issues of hardship cases of pharmaceutical companies pending before them in the shape of representations over fixing and increasing prices in accordance with the law as issue regarding mechanism provided in the policy would be decided in subsequent proceedings.

It further observed that the drug authority while acting in pursuance to the policy may issue fresh notices to all pharmaceutical companies for providing any required documents, and in case they had already been provided to the authority, the issue should be decided as early as possible, preferably within 15 days, when the individual reference was taken up.

The court said representatives of pharmaceutical companies who would attend the meeting would be provided copies of minutes of the meeting along with previous meetings held by the authority; however, any delay in this regard should not cause any delay in the proceedings for fixing prices. Adjourning the matter till the second week of May, the court continued the interim stay order and said no coercive action would be taken against the plaintiff companies.