TNI Bureau: Essential medicines including painkillers, antibiotics and anti-infectives are set to become costlier by more than 12% from this Satuday as the drug pricing authority of India has allowed a price hike.

According to report, prices of 384 essential drugs and over 1,000 formulations which are on the National List of Essential Medicines are set to see the hike following a sharp rise in the Wholesale Price Index (WPI).

It is to be mentioned here that the NPPA allowed a 10.7% increase in drug prices last year, citing a similar change in the WPI.

“The latest massive hike will distort price controls and hence the government should intervene,” said Malini Aisola, co-convenor of All India Drugs Action Network (AIDAN).

“This (increase) is the highest seen since the DPCO (Drugs [Price Control] Order) 2013 came into force and this is the second year in a row that the WPI is higher than the annual permitted price hike for non-scheduled formulations (10%),” she said.

The industry had been demanding a substantial increase in prices saying the prices of some key active pharmaceutical ingredients have increased significantly over the last two years.