ISLAMABAD: The summary for the prices fixed by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) for hepatitis medicine Daclatasvir has been stuck in the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) which has led to a delay in the notification of the prices, which Drap had recommended on April 10 after a long controversy.

The delay has meant that the drug continues to be imported and smuggled from India and sold at almost three times its price. NHS Secretary Ayub Sheikh said the summary was being analysed by a committee of the ministry which may take another week or two.

Daclatasvir is used in combination with other medicines- Sofosbuvir and Ribavarin- in treating hepatitis C.

Sofosbuvir was introduced in the US in December 2013, has much better cure rates than Interferon injections and has fewer side effects. The drug is given to hepatitis C patients for six months but it coupled with Daclatasvir, the course is reduced to three months and has better results.


A summary for the prices approved on April 10 has been with the NHS ministry, and may remain there for two more weeks while the committee scrutinises it


A number of companies had applied for the manufacturing of Daclatasvir but Drap was not recommending a price due to which the drug was being imported from India with special permission, and also smuggled, and 60mg of it was sold for between Rs11,500 and Rs13,000.

Drap’s Drug Pricing Committee (DPC) on April 10 recommended that 30mg of Daclatasvir be sold for Rs2,700 and 60mg be sold or Rs4,600.

A citizen, Mian Aftab Ahmed had submitted a petition in the Lahore High Court asking it to direct Drap to fix prices for new molecules and was given a decision in his favour. Talking to Dawn he said a number of companies had applied for manufacturing the drug in May 2015 which were approved in May 2016.

“The Sindh High Court gave a stay order at the end of 2016 saying new molecules cannot be registered. I applied to the LHC then. The Supreme Court also directed for the issue to be addressed due to which the DPC recommended a price for the medicine on April 10,” he said.

He said the summary for this is now stuck in the ministry and is not being sent to the Prime Minister Office for the final notification of prices.

“The drug is being smuggled from India and some elements have made billions of rupees from this,” he said.

A Drap official said the Supreme Court had decided last year that such decisions will be made by the federal cabinet and not the prime minister. However, during its last meeting, the federal cabinet had delegated their power back to the minister in charge, i.e. the prime minister in order to ensure speedy decisions in important matters. A notification for this is available with Dawn.

“It is strange that the ministry has been delaying the summary, which was to be forwarded to the Prime Minister Office,” he said.

Malik Nazeer Awan, a representative of a farmer’s organisation, Mazdoor Kisan Committee, said the majority of hepatitis patients were poor but the ministry is not taking steps to provide medicines at affordable rates, “It is unjust to make poor people buy costly medicines when they can buy the same for almost one third the current price,” he said.

According to some estimates, almost 10pc of the population has hepatitis and around 150,000 people die from complications from the disease each year.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2017

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