The government is planning to control prices of medical devices by restricting their trade margins, a departure from the existing mechanism of capping prices. Once the new mechanism is decided, it will apply to devices such as cardiac stents and knee implants, prices of which were slashed by as much as 85% using powers under the Drugs Price Control Order (DPCO), 2013. There are three separate formulae under consideration and one of the three will be decided for calculation of maximum retail price (MRP) in the next few days.

(Live Mint)