The prices of several hundred essential medicines will now fall significantly as the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has already listed ceiling prices for as many as 199 essential medicines, and ceiling prices for around 300 more formulations will be listed soon.

NPPA Chairman CP Singh said the authority had already notified the prices of 199 formulations, in accordance with the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy 2012.

Announcing the development, Singh said, "In accordance with the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy, we have notified the prices of 199 formulations so far."

He added that he could not predict as to when the task of fixing the prices of all the remaining formulations will be completed as the task was quite voluminous but stressed that drug makers would have to revise their prices as per the new list within the next 45 days.

As per the new pricing formula, the prices of antibiotics and anti-cancer medications will reportedly come down by 50-60 per cent and 75-80 per cent, respectively, while the prices of other medications will slip by 20-30 per cent.

Staring August this year, no brand of a medicine containing a formulation whose price has been fixed, will cost more than the price listed by the NPPA.