India’s commerce minister says price cuts on medical devices and drugs are here to stay

MUMBAI: India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goel said that his government will continue to implement price control measures of drugs and devices in India, as the country looks to balance needs of its economically weak population. Goyal was speaking at a pharma CEO panel at the annual BioAsia2020 event at Hyderabad, where he was asked whether the price control measures of the government was hurting innovations in the pharma industry. “Price controls are here to stay, they are needed in an economy like India”, Goyal said on Wednesday night. He came to this conclusion after meeting with several doctors and patients who have said that these cuts have “hugely helped patients”.

Goyal’s statements come a week before US President Donald J Trump’s scheduled visit to India, where among several discussions the issue of price cuts of medical devices and intellectual property are on the agenda.

The Indian government’s price control measures of key drugs and medical devices like knee implants and stents had led to a trade crisis between United States and India. India was removed from a preferential list of trade benefits that USA offers to certain countries called Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) because of these policy measures.

Most suppliers of new medical devices are multinational companies based out of USA and Europe. A lobby group of international medical device companies had threatened to pull out of India and not introduce their innovative products in the country.

“We might not give a patient the best or advanced knee implant, but at least we can help a patient walk with a less best product”, Goyal said, when he was asked if Indian patients were not getting access to innovative medical products.