Govt OK's drug pricing policy NPPA New Delhi: The government today cleared the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy that will bring 348 essential drugs under price control, leading to reduction in prices.

• what is drug policy? it will structure and regulate the manufacturing,storage,pricing and sales practices of all medicines.
• what is the aim of the   National Pharmaceutical Pricing policy ?  to bring 348 essential drugs under price control,  to ensure the availability of essential medicines  at reasonable prices.
•  what is the criteria to fix the prices of drugs?a group of ministers, headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar proposed to fix prices based on weighted average of brands which have more than 1 per cent market share.but the supreme court alerted the govt , not to alter the existing mechanism of cost-based drug pricing.

what is the present status of indian pharma industry? the production turnover of the Indian pharma sector stood at Rs 1.05 lakh crore in 2010, and the country is the third largest producer of medicines by volume in the world. It exports to over 200 countries.