ECC okays fertility drug price increase

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee has approved an increase in the price of a fertility medicine to ensure its availability while deferring the

fixation of prices of 54 new medicines for the next meeting, officials said Wednesday.

“The ECC has considered a summary of the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination (NHS,R&C) and approved an increase in the maximum retail price (MRP) of one drug as per the recommendation of the Drug Pricing Committee (DPC) of DRAP,” an official of the NHS,R&C told The News.

The official said DRAP had recommended an increase in the price

of menotropins (human menopausal gonadotrophin), which is a fertility medicine that increases the chance of pregnancy, adding that it is given in injection form.

The official maintained that the DPC had also recommended fixation of prices for 54 new drugs, but the ECC deferred this item on the agenda and referred it to the next meeting of the committee for further discussion.

It is worth mentioning that the DPC of the DRAP has also recommended an increase in the prices of over 110 medicines as hardship cases to ensure their availability after manufacturers stopped their production citing the high costs of manufacturing.