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India’s latest amendment to the Drugs (Prices Control) Order (DPCO) signals a new era in pharma packaging by recognizing its role in improving supply chain efficiency, enhancing traceability, and supporting regulatory compliance. As the industry adapts to evolving patient needs and stricter quality standards, packaging is emerging as a critical lever for ensuring product integrity, reducing operational complexities, and enabling greater transparency across the pharmaceutical value chain.
Chakravarthi AVPS, global ambassador, World Packaging Organisation stated that packaging is no longer viewed merely as a container for medicines. Reflecting this evolving role, India’s latest amendment to the DPCO recognizes packaging as a distinct component in pharmaceutical pricing. The change underscores a broader shift in regulatory thinking, acknowledging that modern pharmaceutical packaging contributes far beyond product protection, influencing everything from supply chain efficiency and traceability to patient adherence and sustainability.
DPCO 2026 introduces a provision that enables separate ceiling or retail prices for the same medicine by considering factors such as packaging type, pack size, dosage compliance, pack contents and specified therapeutic rationale. This is much more than a procedural amendment, added Chakravarthi who has been championing patient centric & responsible packaging.
A thoughtfully designed pharmaceutical package does far more than protect a medicine. It can improve patient adherence and compliance, reduce medication errors, enable accurate dosing, enhance safety for children and the elderly besides support better treatment outcomes. For many years, I have maintained that ‘Packaging is the Second Physician’, Chakravarthi told Pharmabiz in an email.
While the amendment does not explicitly state that packaging improves therapeutic outcomes, it acknowledges that packaging-related factors and dosage compliance may justify differentiated pricing when backed by therapeutic rationale. Now this represents an encouraging shift in regulatory thinking, said Chakravarthi.
Another aspect is the effort to make implementation more practical. The revised provisions provide greater clarity on price revisions, simplify certain requirements for follow-on launches, and establish a more balanced compliance framework for manufacturers that demonstrate timely communication across the supply chain, he said.
The real impact, however, will depend on how NPPA operationalises these provisions. Clear guidance on what constitutes an acceptable therapeutic rationale, along with a transparent and consistent evaluation process, will be essential to encourage meaningful innovation while preserving affordability, he stated.
Having spent over four decades in pharmaceutical packaging, this amendment is seen as a progressive step towards aligning patient-centric design, regulatory science and healthcare outcomes. It is not the destination, but it is certainly a step in the right direction. Because when packaging helps patients take medicines correctly, improves adherence and enhances safety, it ceases to be just a container. It becomes part of the therapy. Hence, packaging is the second physician, said Chakravarthi.
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