A number of pharmaceutical companies in the country have increased the drug prices by as much as 50-80 percent while some of the drugs are not even available in the market. According to sources, in view of international recession, the prices of raw materials used in manufacture of medicines have gone down but the drug prices have increased and there has been no notification from the government. They also pointed out that in the new budget import duty has been reduced by 5% on 86 chemicals used in the manufacturing of medicines. Some of the patients who were interviewed by INP on Saturday said that not only the prices have increased but several life saving drugs have gone out of the market and patients are forced to purchase them in the black market.
