A ‘sweet’ relief for diabetes patients as drug prices drop to half
The price of diabetes drugs have halved in
the past nine months, bringing relief to around millions of diabetics in India.
A new class of medicine — belonging to the
gliptin family — has lowered the cost of drugs by 50% in less than a
year. Of the 68 million diabetics in India, about 1.85 million are on gliptin
therapy to manage their type-2 diabetes.
The price came down from Rs 156 a pack in
January to Rs 79 in September, thanks to aggressive pricing by domestic
companies.
An average daily price for other diabetes
drugs stands at Rs 45 against Rs 5 to Rs 7 for teneligliptin-based drugs, launched last year.
Glenmark launched teneligliptin under the
brands Ziten and Zita Plus at a breakthrough price of Rs 19.90 a tablet when
most gliptins were priced at around Rs 45.
Today, 30 companies, including Glenmark,
Mankind Pharma, Zydus, Eris Life Sciences and Intas, are making about 34 brands
of drugs from the teneligliptin molecule.
“While
most of the gliptins were imported, teneligliptin is the only gliptin to be
manufactured in India ... With the launch of this, the daily cost of treatment
for gliptin therapy has come down dramatically,” said Glenn Saldanha,
chairman, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals.
According to a conservative estimate, a
diabetic on gliptin treatment saves more than Rs 9,000 a year on medicine.
Mankind Pharmaceuticals, the maker of
diabetes drug Dynaglipt, expects prices to fall further.
“We are
planning to manufacture this molecule (bulk drug) at our new plant, which is
set to start in January. We may see further cost benefits that may allow prices
to reduce further,” said RC Juneja, the chief executive officer of Mankind
Pharma.
Gliptin therapy is safer, with almost
negligible side-effects, experts said. The country’s anti-diabetes market is
one of the fastest-growing segments, with a growth rate exceeding 25% at Rs
7,638 crore, says data of the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists Association.
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