Govt to fix prices of all 295 essential drugs

The government has updated the National Essential Drug List, raising the number of medicines to 295, and announced that prices will be fixed for all of them to ensure greater affordability for the public.

Alongside, a guideline for setting prices of all drugs -- both essential and non-essential -- has been approved to give authorities effective control over pricing.

The advisory council headed by Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus endorsed the updated list and the guideline at its weekly meeting yesterday.

Briefing reporters after the meeting at the Foreign Service Academy, Prof Sayedur Rahman, special assistant to the CA for the health ministry, described the move as “groundbreaking for Bangladesh’s health sector,” saying it would have far-reaching implications in reducing healthcare costs. 

He added that a government gazette will be issued soon, with implementation to begin during the tenure of the interim government.

Contacted, Zakir Hossain, secretary general of the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries, said the association had been made aware of the approval but had not yet received official documents. “We will give our formal reaction after reviewing them,” he told this correspondent last night.

According to the World Health Organization, essential medicines are those that meet priority healthcare needs based on public health relevance, evidence of benefit and harm, cost-effectiveness, and affordability.

The existing list of 285 essential medicines was last updated in 2016. Of these, the government directly sets prices for 117 widely used drugs, while the rest are approved based on proposals from manufacturers. 

The National Drug Policy 2016, citing WHO guidelines and expert opinions, recommends that the essential drug list be revised every two years. 

However, it has only been updated twice since its inception in 1982: once in 2008 and again in 2016.

This time, around 135 new medicines have been added, replacing many from the previous list, sources said.

According to Prof Sayedur, the National Drug Policy 1982 led to the expansion of the country’s pharmaceutical sector and helped make medicines available to the public.

However, a change introduced in 1994 limited government price control to only 117 of the then total drugs, instead of all medicines, resulting in price increases for drugs outside the list and causing public suffering, he added.

He noted that nearly two-thirds of healthcare spending by the public goes towards purchasing medicines. Over the years, the number of drugs has increased and now stands at around 1,400.

Considering all these aspects, the interim government formed a taskforce in July last year, led by the vice-chancellor of Bangladesh Medical University, which consulted all stakeholders.

Based on the taskforce’s recommendations, the updated essential drug list and the guideline were formulated.

Prof Sayedur said the government will fix the prices of essential drugs, and companies selling these medicines will have to comply with the set rates.

Companies will be given four years to gradually adjust their prices, he said, adding that a company will not get approval for a new drug if they fail to comply with the rate.

He mentioned that the updated list of 295 essential medicines would be adequate to treat illnesses affecting about 80 percent of the population, meaning price regulation would directly affect this majority.

According to Prof Sayedur, at least one-fourth of a pharmaceutical company’s production will have to consist of essential drugs to ensure their availability.

The guideline has also devised a mechanism to set prices for non-essential drugs, ensuring that the price of a medicine does not vary by more than 15 percent from one company to another.

An independent authority will be formed to fix drug prices. Until it is established, the existing authority will continue to set prices.

He also mentioned that drug prices will be adjusted every year in March in line with the inflation rate.