New Delhi, April 10: The UPA government has reneged on its pledge of action to reduce the prices of medicines in India, and dozens of drug formulations remain “overpriced”, a coalition of non-government health organisations has said.

The All India Drug Action Network, a nationwide coalition advocating price control mechanisms, has also alleged that some drug companies have resorted to “gimmicks” to escape even existing price control rules.

The wide variations among prices of the same drugs made by different companies indicate the extent of overpricing, members of the network said. The profit margins in some medicines touch 1000 per cent or higher, they claimed.

“The lack of price control initiatives has meant denial of access to affordable medicines,” said Sourirajan Srinivasan, managing trustee of Low Cost Standard Therapeutics, Baroda, and a member of the coalition. “The poor have always had difficulty accessing medicines. Now, even sections of the middle class are likely to experience similar dilemmas,” Srinivasan told The Telegraph.

In its common minimum programme document released in May 2004, the UPA government had said it would take “steps to ensure availability of life-saving drugs at reasonable prices”.

The network has also pointed out that during 2005-06, a standing committee on chemicals and fertilisers and a task force set up by the Prime Minister’s Office had both emphasised the need for drug price regulation.

Only 74 drugs are currently under price control in India. The government itself has classified 354 drugs as “essential medicines,” but only 32 of these 354 drugs are under price control.

“Most of the drugs under the existing price control list are of little relevance to our major health problems,” said Anurag Bhargava, a physician with Jan Swasthya Sahyog, Bilaspur.

“Anaemia is a major problem across India, but anti-anaemia medications are not under price control. And most drugs against diabetes or cancer or heart disease also remain out of price control,” Bhargava said.

The network has also alleged that some drug companies appear to have selectively changed the ingredients of their brands to evade price control.

One drug company replaced a combination of an antibiotic called norfloxacin and an anti-protozoal called metronidazole, both under price control, with ofloxacin and ornidazone — similar drugs but neither under price control.

Another company altered a combination of ciprofloxacin and tinidazole, both under price control, with ofloxacin and ornidazole, neither under price control.

The network has argued that a medicine is a unique commodity to which standard free-market rules cannot apply.

“The consumer is under distress, cannot choose the drug, and it is the doctor who almost always decides what the buyer pays,” said Gopal Dabade, a physician from Dharwad, Karnataka, a member of the network.

The coalition has pointed out that even western countries — the European Union and the UK — have some form of controls over drug prices, direct or indirect control on the prices through national health care service mechanisms.

The UK has a drug price regulation scheme. Although the US has no price controls, drug companies and insurance companies sometimes negotiate prices.

“The medicine market is not the typical market,” said Chandra Gulhati, editor of the Monthly Index of Medical Specialities, India, a drugs journal. “Sales figures of drugs show that the most expensive brands sell in the highest volumes,” Gulhati said.