{"id":19992,"date":"2026-07-21T05:33:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T05:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/?p=19992"},"modified":"2026-07-21T05:34:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T05:34:29","slug":"medicine-prices-skyrocket-up-to-3991-omeprazole-20mg-hits-rs6785-despite-rs17-govt-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/?p=19992","title":{"rendered":"Medicine Prices Skyrocket Up to 3,991%: Omeprazole 20mg Hits Rs67.85 Despite Rs1.7 Govt Rate"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Nadeen Tanoli<\/strong><\/p>\n

Islamabad: Pakistan faces a mounting public health crisis as medicine prices have surged up to 4,000 percent above government approved rates, making life saving treatments unaffordable for ordinary citizens.<\/p>\n

The Pakistan Young Pharmacist Association (PYPA) held a press conference to expose how five multinational pharmaceutical companies left the country after the government removed mandatory price controls in February 2024, resulting in an estimated $5 billion outflow from the national economy.<\/p>\n

PYPA warned that the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has failed to enforce price regulations, allowing pharmaceutical companies to deregulate prices, import banned drugs, and profit at the expense of public health, while patients suffering from diseases such as AIDS, Hepatitis, and other critical illnesses struggle to access essential medication.<\/p>\n

Life-saving medicines such as Omeprazole 20mg, which costs Rs.1.7 per tablet under government procurement, are now sold at Rs.67.85 in the market, representing a 3,991 percent increase. Other drugs include Monelukast 10mg (Singulair) at Rs.93 compared to Rs.3.07, Escitalopram 10mg (Cipralex) at Rs.100 versus Rs.2.93, Pregabalin 75mg (Lyrica) at Rs.143.67 against Rs.6.21,<\/p>\n

Atorvastatin 20mg (Lipiget) at Rs.55 versus Rs.2.73, Ceftriaxone 1g injection (Rocephin) at Rs.1,244 against Rs.78, Tobramycin + Dexamethasone eye drops (Tobradex) at Rs.1,500 versus Rs.70, Losartan 50mg (Xavor) at Rs.30.86 against Rs.2.9,<\/p>\n

Fluconazole 150mg (Diflucan) at Rs.620 versus Rs.39.51, Glimepiride 2mg (Evopride) at Rs.17.23 against Rs.1.37, Moxifloxacin 400mg injection (Avelox) at Rs.2,071 versus Rs.160, and Omeprazole injection 40mg (Risek Inf) at Rs.530 versus Rs.53.<\/p>\n

PYPA leaders accused DRAP officials of colluding with pharmaceutical companies and failing to protect the public, warning that without immediate intervention, patients will be forced to either forgo treatment or face catastrophic expenses, with some families spending up to Rs.24,000 per month on medicines alone.<\/p>\n

The association demanded the immediate restoration of mandatory price controls, criminal investigations into responsible DRAP officials, recovery of illicit profits from pharmaceutical companies, and consideration of provincial-level regulation to ensure affordability.<\/p>\n

PYPA emphasized that continued inaction could lead to a national public health disaster, further spreading preventable diseases and increasing mortality, urging the government to act swiftly to safeguard access to essential medicines and restore public confidence in regulatory institutions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Nadeen Tanoli Islamabad: Pakistan faces a mounting public health crisis as medicine prices have surged up to 4,000 percent above government approved rates, making life saving treatments unaffordable for ordinary citizens. The Pakistan Young Pharmacist Association (PYPA) held a press conference to expose how five multinational pharmaceutical companies left the country after the government …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":19991,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19994,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19992\/revisions\/19994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}