'No shortage of coronary stents'

There is no shortage of coronary stents in the market after substantial reduction of its price and the government is closely monitoring their availability, Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

“No actionable complaint regarding shortage of coronary stents in the market has been received by the government so far,” Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukh L Mandaviya said during Question Hour.

He said the government, through the National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Authority (NPPA), was closely monitoring the situation and has alerted the state governments and state drug controllers to monitor the availability of the stents.

The NPPA notified the ceiling price of coronary stent at Rs 7,260 for Bare Metal Stent (BMS) and Rs 29,600 for Drug Eluting Stents (DES), including metallic DES and Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffold (BVS)/Biodegradable Stents.

The average maximum retail price before the NPPA notification was Rs 45,100
for BMS and Rs 1,21,400 for DES.

“Price regulation has brought down the prices of Stents – BMS 74% and DES 85%,” the minister said.