A Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) will be in place by mid of November, the Union Government has assured the Supreme Court.

Previous week, a Supreme Court Bench had ordered the Union Government to confirm a clear time frame within which a new drug price policy would be put in place.

Siddarth Luthra, Additional Solicitor-General (ASG), yesterday told a Supreme Court Bench comprised of Justice G. S. Singhvi and Justice S. J. Mukhopadhaya that the new drug price policy would get Cabinet approval by end of October.

The apex court also expressed displeasure over soaring prices of essential medicines. Justice Singhvi slammed the Government saying it had done nothing arrest soaring prices of medicines for years.

Expressing the court's concern over the issue, Justice Singhvi said, "People have to go hungry for paying the medicine bill. The government can have concern for drug manufacturers but it must have substantial concern for the common man."

He made it very clear that prices of medicines should not soar further in the new drug policy.

The existing list of essential drugs has merely 74 medicines, while a total of 348 medicines have been finalized to be included in the new DPCO schedule.