The High Court has restored the government’s full authority to regulate the prices of 739 essential life-saving medicines. On Monday (August 25), a bench comprising Justice Md Rezaul Hasan and Justice Biswajit Debnath delivered the landmark judgment.
The court declared the 1994 circular—granting partial pricing power to pharmaceutical companies—invalid and reinstated the 1993 government gazette. Under Article 112 of the Constitution, the court directed that the pricing of all life-saving medicines must be determined by the government and published in an official gazette.
The directive also instructed the Health Secretary, DG Health, DG Drug Administration, and the president and general secretary of the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries to ensure proper implementation.
The public interest litigation was filed in 2018 by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB). Senior Advocate Manzill Murshid argued on behalf of the petitioner, assisted by Advocate Sanjay Mondal. Senior Advocate S.K. Morshed represented the drug manufacturers’ association, while Deputy Attorney General Syed Ejaz Karim appeared for the state.
According to Advocate Murshid, Section 11 of the Drugs Control Ordinance 1982 vested the government with full authority to regulate medicine prices. Based on this, the Health Ministry published a gazette on September 18, 1993, fixing the prices of 739 medicines. However, a circular issued on February 26, 1994, curtailed this power—limiting the government’s control to only 177 medicines, leaving the rest to the manufacturers.
He further argued that the rising prices of life-saving medicines directly affect citizens’ right to life and undermine their fundamental rights. Consequently, patients were forced to buy essential medicines at inflated rates.