Supreme Court of Pakistan instructed the federal government on Monday to decide new drug prices within four weeks because it was dissatisfied with the operation of the Pakistan Drug Regulatory Agency (DRAP), which it says works among pharmaceutical companies.
Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Judge Ijazul Ahsan issued the order when they heard a petition from a private pharmaceutical company against the drop in drug prices. On December 31, 2018, the Ministry of Health adopted a legal provision (SRO) that sets the maximum selling price (MRP) of 889 medicines.
The ministry had lowered the price of 395 drugs; increased prices for 464 medicines and kept prices for 30 medicines unchanged. However, the pharmaceutical industry increased the prices of some drugs by 100% to 500%. The government announced on May 4, 2019 that it would reverse the rise in drug prices after a setback.
At the hearing on Monday, the private pharmaceutical firm's lawyer said the government was violating a Supreme Court order to cut drug prices. According to the council, the Monitoring Commission had the prices freeze to the level of 2013. However, the chief judge said that the court had not issued such an order.
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An SC bank with three judges charged DRAP on August 4, 2018 to resolve all pending drug company cases related to drug prices within 10 weeks, while the government was instructed to fix current prices for all drugs pending a decision on cases of freezing of medicines.
Cj Gulzar Ahmed discovered that drug regulators are very strong in the world, but DRAP works among pharmaceutical companies. DRAP continues to fluctuate with drug prices, he added.
A DRAP official who appeared before the bank said the agency was trying to control drug prices. He also made an exception to CJ's comment that the DRAP was administered by alternates, saying, "No one works with place-level deputation in the DRAP." Justice Ijazul Ahsan also asked why the government needs so much time to fix drug prices.
CJ noted that DRAP should determine drug prices within a day. Judge Ahsan asked whether the government had decided on the price of medicines on the recommendation of a relevant task force. He said the government cannot postpone the issue of drug prices indefinitely.
The additional lawyer (AAG) said that the government had received recommendations from the task force, but that they had not yet decided on the recommendations. The AAG said the Drug Price Committee (DPC) has no authority to set drug prices.
CJ said the task force also had no legal basis. He said the DPC controls drug prices, but the government has also formed a task force on the advice of the DPC. The bank ordered the federal government to set drug prices within four weeks, delaying the handling of the case.
At the last hearing on Friday, the AAG informed the bank that the task force, not the federal cabinet, had set drug prices. Justice Ahsan had noted that the task force apparently used delaying tactics rather than making a decision on the case.
