India caps prices of 36 more drugs: government source

[September 19, 2014]  MUMBAI (Reuters) - India has capped the prices of 36 drugs, including those used to treat infections and diabetes, in its latest move to make essential medicines more affordable, a senior official of the country's drug pricing authority said on Friday.

The medicines join the 348 drugs deemed essential and that are therefore subject to price caps. Drug price control has become a particularly contentious issue in India, where drugmakers say prices are already among the lowest in the world.

Indian drugmakers, including Cipla Ltd, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, and Cadila Healthcare Ltd are among the companies that will be affected by the latest decision, research firm AIOCD Pharmasofttech AWACS Pvt Ltd said.

An official at the department of pharmaceuticals, which controls the drug pricing authority, confirmed the price cap move, but declined to give details.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi and Zeba Siddiqui in Mumbai; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Clarence Fernandez)

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