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  • Book
  • © 2018

Regulating Pharmaceutical Prices in India

Policy Design, Implementation and Compliance

  • Based on rigorous analysis of comprehensive time-series data on the industry
  • Written for administrators, policy makers, as well as researchers dealing with regulation and pharma industry
  • Presents ways to improve pharmaceutical price controls

Part of the book series: India Studies in Business and Economics (ISBE)

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
  2. Introduction

    • Ajay Bhaskarabhatla
    Pages 1-7
  3. Historical Context and the Motivation for Regulation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 9-9
    2. Brief History of Regulating Pharmaceutical Prices

      • Ajay Bhaskarabhatla
      Pages 11-31
    3. Is the 2013 Price Control Regulation Necessary?

      • Ajay Bhaskarabhatla
      Pages 33-67
  4. The Design of the 2013 DPCO Regulation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 69-69
  5. The Impact of the 2013 DPCO

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 117-117
    2. How Effective Are the 2013 DPCO Regulations?

      • Ajay Bhaskarabhatla
      Pages 119-157
  6. Enforcement and Compliance

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 195-195
    2. Conclusion

      • Ajay Bhaskarabhatla
      Pages 229-234
  7. Back Matter

    Pages 235-306

About this book

This book presents an extensive study on the effectiveness of recent regulations on pharmaceutical prices in India, exploring the weaknesses in the design and implementation of pharmaceutical price controls and investigating what can be done to fix the broken system.

In addition, it examines the extent to which essential medicines are actually made affordable by price controls. The book argues that companies make the pharmaceutical price control regime largely ineffective by coordinating to increase pre-regulation prices; by diversifying horizontally away from the regulated markets and increasing prices in the unregulated markets; by manipulating trade margins; and by refusing to comply with the regulation because the penalties remains negligible.

The book draws on extensive empirical research involving India’s 2013 Drug Price Control Order and widely-used medicines such as paracetamol and metformin to illustrate how firms have weakened regulation. It argues that theregulatory regime can be strengthened by using systematic analysis of product- and region-level data in the Indian pharmaceutical industry, and by screening for the strategies that firms currently employ to circumvent regulation. In closing, it discusses recent efforts to strengthen the implementation of price controls in India and expanding the scope of price controls to medical devices.




Authors and Affiliations

  • Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Ajay Bhaskarabhatla

About the author

Ajay Bhaskarabhatla is an associate professor at Erasmus School of Economics, The Netherlands. Ajay’s research on the Indian pharmaceutical industry has been published in top peer-reviewed journals.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access