Stent makers and importers allowed to hike prices

The ceiling price of bare metal stents is ₹10,509.79 while that of drug-eluting and some other types of stents is ₹38,267.18.

First Published6 May 2024

The NPPA has directed all existing manufacturers and importers of the coronary stents having MRP lower than the ceiling price to review and revise the existing MRP of these stents on the basis of WPI @0.0055% for the year 2023 over the previous year.

New Delhi: The medical bill for many heart patients is set to rise after India’s apex drug price regulator—the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)— allowed manufacturers and importers to increase the price of coronary stents to reflect rising inflation.

The NPPA directed all manufacturers and importers of coronary stents whose retail prices are lower than the ceiling set by it to review and revise the prices at 0.0055% of the wholesale price index (WPI) for 2023.

The ceiling price of bare metal stents is ₹10,509.79 while that of drug-eluting, metallic DES and Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffold (BVS) stents is fixed at ₹38,267.18.

Disease burden

The development assumes significance given the high heart disease burden in the country. Stents are used to open up narrow coronary arteries that provide the heart with blood.

Also read | NPPA regulates price of coronary stents

Stents are also sometimes used to treat aneurysm or bulges in the wall of arteries and blocked airways in the lungs.

“All the existing manufacturers and importers of coronary stents having MRP lower than the ceiling price may revise the existing MRP of coronary stent, on the basis of WPI @ 0.00551% for the year 2023 over 2022,” read an NPPA notification.

However, it added that manufacturers not complying with the ceiling price shall be liable to deposit the overcharged amount.

The regulator also instructed every retailer and dealer to display a price list furnished by the manufacturer on their business locations.

Ceiling fixed

According to a government report, around 32,457 individuals died due to heart attacks in 2022 which is a significant uptick from the 28,413 such deaths recorded in 2021.

In March, the authority fixed the ceiling price of over 700 drug formulations in accordance with the WPI, bringing it under price control.

Queries sent to the department of pharmaceuticals spokesperson remained unanswered.