New Delhi, June 15 - Leading pharma companies, including GlaxoSmithkline, Pfizer and Ranbaxy, sell commonly used drugs at a rate 10 times the cost of production, a study by the Corporate Affairs Ministry has found.

A study by the Cost Audit branch of the MCA found drugs like Calpol manufactured by Glaxosmithkline, Corex Cough Syrup by Pfizer, Revital by Ranbaxy Global, Omez by Dr Reddy's Labs, Azithral by Alembic and several others were being sold at a mark up of up to 1,123 per cent over the cost of production.

Worried over the findings of the study, Corporate Affairs Minister M Veerappa Moily has written to the ministers of Chemical and Fertilizers M K Alagiri and Health Ghulam Nabi Azad seeking appropriate action on curbing this practice of pharma companies.

He has forwarded a copy of the study to the two ministers. Emails sent to Ranbaxy, Pfizer, Zydus Cadila and Cipla remained unanswered while Dr Reddy's Lab said it cannot comment on the findings of the MCA.

The MCA study covered medicines manufactured/marketed by Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy's Lab, Wyeth, FDC, Alembic, Glaxomithkline, Pfizer, USV, ELder Pharma, Zydus Cadila, Wochardt and Cipla.

According to the 'suo moto' study, the mark up (MAPE) on cost of production range from 203 per cent to 1,123 per cent against 100 per cent allowed by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) in case of scheduled drugs. PTI