India eyes medical device price controls with stents, implants in focus

Print 11 June 2015
EJ Lane / FeircePharmaAsia

India has now turned its attention to medical devices for price controls, following steps to widen its reach on pharmaceutical costs.

In devices, the focus is on imported implants and stents, even though in the case of the latter, according to Cardiological Society of India data, 40% of the 310,190 stents reported to have been used in hospitals in the past year to treat 248,152 heart conditions carried the "Made in India" label.

Still, the "Make In India" policy for manufacturing championed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi sees the need for measures to regulate the industry under the Draft National Medical Device Policy, according to the Times of India.

The aim would be to create a National Medical Devices Authority that could monitor and set prices in line with India's Essential Commodities Act--originally aimed at preventing middlemen from hoarding food.

This would be in addition to the power of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, the Times of India said, noting that a new layer of bureaucracy would be needed.

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