The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan) has completed its second nationwide survey assessing the impact of deregulation on the prices of non-essential medicines, revealing mixed but notable price trends across the pharmaceutical market.
According to the findings of the latest survey, a majority of medicines—around 55 percent—have witnessed an increase in prices over the past two years. In contrast, 42 percent of medicines recorded a decrease in their retail prices during the same period, while approximately 2.27 percent showed no change, indicating limited price stability in a deregulated environment.
Officials familiar with the development stated that the findings from both the first and second phases of the survey are expected to be presented to the Prime Minister in the coming week for further review and policy direction. The data is likely to play a key role in determining the future of price deregulation for non-essential medicines in the country.
The policy shift toward deregulation was introduced during the caretaker setup, when government control over pricing of non-essential pharmaceutical products was withdrawn. Following this move, pharmaceutical companies were granted greater autonomy to set retail prices for their products based on market conditions.
The initial phase of the survey covered 100 non-essential medicine brands, conducted on the special instructions of the Prime Minister. In the second phase, the scope was significantly expanded, with DRAP examining more than 700 medicines belonging to around 500 non-essential brands to gain a broader understanding of market behavior.
The second survey was conducted across major cities including Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar, Islamabad, Faisalabad, and Multan. Prices were collected and compared from 192 pharmacies and medical stores, providing a wide geographic and retail-level snapshot of price variations.
