THE ongoing delay in making new, approved lifesaving medicines available to patients is a serious lapse in Pakistan’s drug regulatory system. It is difficult to justify why medicines that have already met with the standards set by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan should remain out of public reach simply because the government has yet to approve their prices. For patients, this is not merely inconvenient; it is a question of health and, in many cases, survival. Nearly 40 registered medicines are reportedly awaiting price notifications months after the relevant process was completed and recommendations forwarded to the federal........

© Dawn