Pharma firms’ plea against cut in Hepatitis C drug price dismissed

Petitions filed by pharmaceutical companies challenging the government’s decision to fix the price of Hepatitis – C drug (Sofosbouvir) at Rs5,868, were dismissed by the Sindh High Court (SHC), this past week.

The court observed that the maximum retail price of the drug was legal since the appropriate procedure of price determination of the said compound was complied with, as was done in neighbouring countries.

Private pharmaceutical companies had assailed the government’s notification, issued on February 9 this year, and had recommended the drug price committee to instead fix the drug’s price at Rs9,999.

According to the petitioners, the drug regulatory authority’s decision to fix the general maximum retail price of Sofosbouvir at Rs5,868 was in violation of the drug pricing policy, 2015.

The federal government, however, submitted that the price of the Hepatitis-C drug be fixed at Rs5,868 in the larger interest of millions of Hepatitis -  C patients.

The federal law officer maintained that the price fixed by the federal government was fair, reasonable and driven by the public policy of making life saving drugs accessible at an affordable price.

He submitted that the principles of administrative law had been well considered while fixing the price of Sofosbouvir 400 mg tablets. The decision was primarily based on safeguarding the fundamental right of the people suffering from the virus to have a cure from the disease.

SHC’s division bench headed by Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah observed in the judgment that the state was not permitted to favour expensive health services that benefit a few privileged over reasonably priced medicine and preventative medicine that improve public health broadly.

The court observed that access to affordable drug being part of right to life was an obligation undertaken by the state under the constitution of the state as well as pursuant to many international covenants.

The court ordered that federal government and drug regulatory authority to recognize and take steps to show that they have recognized that access to affordable medicine was a fundamental right granted and protected under article 9 and 14 of the Constitution. The court observed that maximum retail price for essential drugs not to be set unless flexibilities provided under section 58 of the Patent Ordinance 2001 have been fully exhausted in a transparent manner.

The court directed the federal government to adopt due process under the notification of March 5, 2015 and re-fix MRP of Sofosbuvir fixed under SRO 410/(I)/2015 without being influenced from any observation made in the judgment but strictly in accordance with the law.