384 Drugs included in National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) 2022

Union health ministry on 13 September added 34 new drugs and dropped 26 drugs in the new revised list released by National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) including ranitidine and other stomach-related ailments.

Key highlights

• The National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM 2022) has 384 drugs, up from 376 in 2015.

• The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) controls the ceiling prices of medicines included in the NLEM, based on the wholesale price index. These are called scheduled drugs.

• All other drugs (non-scheduled drugs) are allowed to take up to 10 per cent hikes every year.

• Every three years, the National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Authority, the regulatory agency that controls the prices of medicines, revises the list of essential medicines along with the price cap making them affordable and widely available.

• It also helps in optimal utilization of healthcare resources and budget; drug procurement policies, health insurance, improving prescribing habits, and medical education.

• A drug gets off the list when it is banned in the country over safety concerns. If a better, more cost-effective medicine is available in the market, it can be replaced on the list. Another criterion for deletion is the change in the country’s disease burden.

• The primary purpose of NLEM is to promote rational use of medicines considering the three important aspects i.e., cost, safety and efficacy.

• In NLEM, the medicines are categorized based on level of healthcare system as- P- Primary; S- Secondary and T- Tertiary.

• The National List of Essential Medicines was first formulated in 1996 and it was revised thrice earlier in 2003, 2011, and 2015.