Drug Information Bulletin (Electronic)

Volume: 4

Drug Information Centre (DIC) Indian Pharmaceutical Association, Bengal Branch Tele fax: 033 24612776, E-mail: ipabengal.dic@gmail.com Web Site: http://www.ipabengal.org Contact: 09830136291

Number: 47

5th March 2011

International Womens Day 2011 Amendment of Rule 122 E vide GSR 45 E dated January 24, 2011 USP Compendial updates posted on 1st March 2011 More than 80 percent of World's population may have inadequate access to pain Medications

Content

NPPA has sent notices in 786 cases of overcharging to recover Rs.2328 cr Forthcoming Events Readers Column

International Womens Day 2011

Theme: Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women
2011 year marks the commemorated for the Switzerland, following its More than one million 100th anniversary of International Womens Day. The day was first time on 19 March 1911 in Austria, Denmark, Germany and establishment during the Socialist International meeting the prior year. women and men attended rallies on that first commemoration.

In 1975, during International Women's Year, the United Nations began celebrating 8 March as International Women's Day. Two years later, in December 1977, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women's Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year by Member States, in accordance with their historical and national traditions. The Day is traditionally marked with a message from the Secretary-General.

2 Amendment of Rule 122 E vide GSR 45 E dated January 24, 2011

USP Compendial updates posted on 1st March 2011 The U.S. Pharmacopeial (USP) Convention posted the following notices on its Web site: Commentary for FCC Seventh Edition, Second Supplement (posted 28-Feb2011) * Ethylcellulose: Notice of Intent to Revise (posted 01-Mar-2011) If you are unable to access these notices, cut and paste these links into your Web browser: http://www.usp.org/fcc/revisionsCommentary Errata.html http://www.usp.org/USPNF/notices/ethylcellul ose.html More than 80 percent of World's population may have inadequate access to pain Medications Reuters reports that according to a report released by the United Nation's International Narcotics Control Board, many countries in Africa, Asia and parts of the Americas had

insufficient or no access to pain relief medications. According to the INCB report, some of the barriers to patient medication access include lack of education among physicians and other healthcare workers, regulatory constraints and the absence of health policies on pain treatment. NPPA has sent notices in 786 cases of overcharging to recover Rs.2328 cr Since the inception of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) in August 1997 till 31st January 2011, demand notices have been issued in 786 cases involving total overcharged amount of Rs.2328.53 crore. Out of these, an amount of Rs.207.86 crore has been recovered which also includes recovery through court orders. Out of overcharged amount of Rs.2328.53 crore, cases for Rs.1930.41 crore are under litigation. 76 cases have been referred to Collectors of various States for recovery as land and revenue arrears, out of which 25 cases are under litigation, 47 cases are pending for recovery with Collectors of various States and in the remaining four

cases, amount has been recovered, according to the information presented in the Parliament recently. Action for recovery for the overcharged amount along with interest thereon is a continuous process for which action is taken by NPPA as per the provisions of DPCO 95 read with the Essential Commodities Act, said Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Srikant Kumar Jena in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. NPPA fixes or revises prices of scheduled drugs/formulations as per the provisions of the Drugs (Prices Control) Orders, 1995 (DPCO, 1995). Under the provisions of the prices of 74 bulk drugs and the formulations containing any of these scheduled drugs are controlled. Under the DPCO, 1995, no person can sell any formulation (medicine) of price controlled category to a consumer at a price exceeding the price notified/approved by the NPPA/ Government. In case, a company is found selling at prices higher than the price notified/approved by the NPPA/Government, action is taken against them as per the provisions of the DPCO, 1995, the statement said.Prima-facie violation of para 8 of DPCO 1995 relating to manufacturing and marketing of scheduled formulations by companies without prior price approval of Government in respect of 39 formulation packs were referred to the concerned State Drug Controllers for taking prosecution action. In order to ensure compliance of the notified ceiling price, NPPA calls for the control samples of the subsequent batches and the price list of the companies in respect of the formulations wherein the companies are found to have overcharged. To ensure that companies adhere to the prices fixed by NPPA, the State Drug Controllers are sensitized and asked to forward the cases relating to non-compliance of the notified price. As a part of continuous market surveillance, NPPA also procures samples of various scheduled formulations to check the compliance of the notified ceiling

4 price by the companies, the Minister informed the House. Forthcoming Events:

Convention of women Pharmacists 8th March 2011

Bangalore
For more details please contact Dr Kalyani Divakar 09590959011, kalyanidivakar@acharya.ac.in Dr Kalyani Prakasam, 09845511726, or

Seminar on Career Opportunities in Fast Growing Pharma Industry

Programme: Date: 26/03/11 Time: 11AM to 4-30PM Venue: K P Bose Memorial Hall, Jadavpur University For details contact: Dr. Nityananda Mondal at Mob. no. 9331021579.

Reader Column:
Dixon Thomas <dixon.thomas@gmail.com> To: ipabengal.dic@gmail.com Dear Sir Your bulletin is very useful to us. Please subscribe it to me Best regards, -Mr. Dixon Thomas, M. Pharm, M.S., M.Sc. Head, Dept of Pharmacy Practice & Editor, RIPER PDIC Bulletin (ISSN 2230-8741) Raghavendra Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (RIPER) Chiyyedu Post, Anantapur 515721 AP, India Phone: 91-8978541693 Sat, Feb 19, 2011 at 4:46 PM