The Sindh High Court (SHC) has firmly rejected petitions filed by a prominent pharmaceutical company seeking to increase the Maximum Retail Prices (MRP) of several widely used drugs. The legal challenge, notably from Abbott Laboratories, sought an annual MRP increase of up to 10 percent for the fiscal year 2023-24 for common medicines such as Brufen and Thyronorm.

The court’s decision hinged on the clarification that revised MRPs are only issued when submitted calculations strictly adhere to existing policy guidelines. Abbott’s argument relied on categorizing these medicines as “lower priced drugs”; however, the court found that their current MRPs had already surpassed the official thresholds set for this category.

Furthermore, the SHC noted a procedural lapse on the part of the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, which had failed to annually revise the thresholds for lower-priced drugs as stipulated by regulations.

Ultimately, the Sindh High Court upheld the decisions previously made by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) and its Appellate Board. The court concluded there was no merit in Abbott Laboratories’ plea for a 10 percent price increase, determining that the MRPs of the drugs in question had exceeded the specified thresholds for lower-priced drugs as of July 1, 2024, thereby disqualifying them from that particular category.