National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority

About NPPA

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority was established in 1997 as an independent body of experts to regulate the pricing of drugs.
It has been constituted as an attached office of the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers.
The Authority has been entrusted with the task of
- Fixation/revision of prices of pharmaceutical products (bulk drugs and formulations),
- Enforcement of provisions of the Drugs (Prices Control) Order (DPCO).
- Monitoring of the prices of controlled and decontrolled drugs in the country.
The NPPA currently fixes prices of drugs placed in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) under Schedule-I of the DPCO.
Non-scheduled drugs are allowed an increase of up to 10 per cent in prices every year, which is monitored by the NPPA.
NPPA can also fix the price for non-scheduled drugs by invoking extraordinary powers in public interest, under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013.

Why in News?

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority is set to launch the Integrated Pharmaceutical Database Management System 2.0 (IPDMS 2.0), an integrated responsive cloud-based application.
It was developed by NPPA with technical support from Centre for Advance Computing (C-DAC).
IPDMS 2.0 is envisaged to optimize synergies in operations in order to promote Government’s thrust on ‘Ease of Doing Business’ as it would provide a single window for submissions of various forms as mandated under Drug Price Control Order (DPCO), 2013.
It would also enable paperless functioning of NPPA and facilitate the stakeholders to connect with National Pharma Pricing Regulator from across the country.

Reference

Today Current Affairs Upsc Exam Syllabus & Previous Yearpaper.