The National Health Ministry has convened a meeting of the Drug Pricing Committee (DPC) in the current week to fix prices of a new medicine for hepatitis.
A source said that the Health Secretary, Sheikh Ayub, has directed all nine members of the committee to ensure their presence in the meeting, whose final date is yet to be announced.
The number of Hepatitis patients’ especially Hepatitis-C has crossed 10 million and they face problems in getting inexpensive medicines. The Supreme Court had ordered to convene a meeting of the DPC to fix the price of hepatitis medicines; however, the meeting could not be called as some members of the committee expressed reservations over the price of 28 tablets of Sofosbuvir at Rs26, 000, arguing that the drug should be manufactured in Pakistan to further decrease its cost.
A number of companies have shown interest in manufacturing the drug in Pakistan and DRAP has so far registered 10 companies. However, the DRAP could not fix the price making it impossible for companies to manufacture the drug locally.
