Knee-implant price capped

Aftercardiacstents, the NationalPharmaceutical PricingAuthority(NPPA) has cappedthepricesof orthopaedickneeimplants.

Thecobaltchromiumknee implant, availableatover ~1,58,000athospitals, will nowbeavailableforaceiling priceof~54,720. Atpresent, suchimplantshaveamarket shareof80percent.Implants withspecialmetalslike titaniumoroxidisedzirconium arepricedatalmost~4,50,000 lakh. Thenewceilingpricewill nowbe~76,600.

Highly-flexibleimplants areavailableat~1,81,728or more. Now, theywillbesold ataceilingpriceof~56,490. Anothercategoryofsurgeryis revisionimplants, wherea patientgoesforasecond surgery. Theaverage maximumretailpriceofthe revisionimplantsis ~2,76,869. Now, theywillbe availableataceilingof ~1,13,950.

The GST may be levied over and above the ceiling price.

The move for capping orthopaedic implants comes after the NPPA found that companies manufacturing such devices were making unethical profits. A recent report on the margins in the supply chain said that the average margin on a full set of orthopaedic implant seems to be 313 per cent. The total trade margin is essentially the maximum retail price minus the import price.

“The government will consider invoking Section 3 (i) of the Drug Price Control Order if manufacturers do not cooperate in keeping adequate stock,” Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Ananth Kumar said. The government had invoked this section to ensure adequate quantity of high-end stents in the market after the NPPA fixed the ceiling price for stents. The prices are such that neither the manufacturer nor the patient will be at a loss, Kumar said.