India’s Pricing Authority Head Shunted Out?
Executive Summary
India’s firebrand pharma pricing authority chief has been transferred out amid sharply polarized views on either side of the debate around his controversial stint.
Bhupendra Singh, chair of India’s National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), seen by some as a thorn in pharma’s side, has been moved out of his current role amid speculation of some heavy duty lobbying by the industry. (Also see "Indian Drug Price Regulator Opposes Plans To Clip Its Wings" - Pink Sheet, 31 Aug, 2017.)
The Appointments Committee of the Indian Cabinet, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Personnel and Training, has cleared Singh’s new appointment as Chairperson, National Authority for Chemical Weapons Convention, Cabinet Secretariat, in the rank and pay of Additional Secretary, a government communique dated Feb. 28 said. Singh’s appointment is part of several such new postings for government officials announced by the committee.
Twitter savvy Singh, who has been at loggerheads with industry for the most part, had spearheaded action towards enforcing price caps on some medical devices such as stents and knee implants. Earlier this year he also highlighted the seemingly unreasonable margins on cardiac catheters used during angioplasties. (Also see "India's Device Price Cap Storm Rages On: New Stent Cap And Spotlight On Catheter Trade Margins " - Medtech Insight, 13 Feb, 2018.) More recently, he warned of a potentially stricter pricing regime for drugs in view of “market failure” because the trade margins (not industry’s margins, he specified at the time) vary from 100% to 1,200%. (Also see "Regulator Warns Of Tougher Pricing Regime In India Amid ‘Market Failure’" - Pink Sheet, 23 Jan, 2018.)
Balance Between Affordability And Availability
Singh’s exit is therefore expected to come as a breather for much of industry, though clearly no one is willing to go on record saying so.
Top industry officials claimed that Singh had, along the way, seemingly donned the role of an activist rather a than a regulator, focusing on the short-term interests of patients and ignoring the overall long-term ramifications of the lopsided policies he pursued.
“There has to be some balance between the affordability and availability aspects by a regulator. His policies also hurt the image and interest of the industry globally,” a top industry executive told Pink Sheet.
But activists on the other side of the debate lauded Singh and the NPPA’s role in curbing profiteering to bring about affordable access to devices like stents, and others tagged the Prime Minister’s office in their tweets on how his actions against the pharma lobby had been "rewarded" with a transfer.
Singh isn’t really the first NPPA chair to be shunted out; some years ago Injeti Srinivas, then chairman of the NPPA and also considered a ''vigilant'' regulator by pro-health groups, was shifted out to become director general of the Sports Authority of India.
Slew Of Changes
Meanwhile, Bhupendra Singh’s transfer comes amid a series of generally unexpected changes in top regulatory positions in India. Earlier this month, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), G N Singh, was relieved of his post, with interim charge handed over to the Joint Drugs Controller of India S Eswara Reddy. (Also see "India’s Top Regulator ‘Relieved Of Post’; Temporary Head In Place " - Pink Sheet, 22 Feb, 2018.)
Industry sources tracking the developments claimed that the generally "cautious, politically correct" and soft-spoken Singh was moved out as a result of certain regional lobbying, among other reasons, though Pink Sheet has no official word around this.
India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organization also announced the transfer of 42 drug inspectors and technical officers to various zones across the country.
New DCGI Reddy told Pink Sheet at the recent BioAsia 2018 meeting in Hyderabad that these are administrative matters and generally routine transfers.
“We have a transfer policy and once the officer completes certain number of years of service, generally he could get transferred,” Reddy explained.