Coronavirus | Bombay HC orders Centre to include Remdesivir in list of scheduled drugs

Court asks govt. to regulate pricing, do away with tender process

The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court on Friday asked the Centre to include Remdesivir in the list of scheduled drugs and to regulate its pricing. The direction came while the Bench was hearing a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) on shortage of oxygen, non-availablity of Remdesivir, Tocilizumab injections, and hospital beds in Nagpur district. When Ulhas Aurangabadkar, assistant solicitor general of India, told a Bench of Justice Sunil Shukre and Justice Avinash Gharote, that it would be difficult to include Remdesivir in the scheduled drugs, the Bench noted, “Prima facie, we are of the view that it is possible to regulate the pricing if a liberal interpretation is given to the provisions of Drugs and Cosmetics Act (DCA).” The Bench went to state that the provisions of the DCA did allow restriction or regulation of prices of a drug that was essential during a natural calamity or epidemic. “The laws empower the Union government to take such steps,” said the Bench and noted that even the Drugs Control Act provides for fixing rates of essential drugs.