ISLAMABAD - For the first time in the history of Pakistan, government has initiated the process of formulating a National Drugs Price Fixation Policy to control the controversial and complicated issue of determining medicine rates. While keeping in view the free pharmaceutical market strategy that has been badly affecting local manufacturers viz a viz the multinational companies, government has finally bent to take this imitative, sources told TheNation. There is huge differential of price of a same molecule by the multinational companies as compared to that allowed to the national-level companies. Therefore, the new policy would address all this sort of anomalies in order to make the drug trade competitive, the sources added. For instance Alendronate Sodium is a 70Mg tablet is being sold at Rs 150 by national companies and multinational companies are selling same tablet in the market at a price of Rs 5500. The sources alleged that Price Regulatory Committee is doing so and the price variation of a same product between national and multinational companies is incurring a great loss to national pharmaceutical companies. It is being hoped that National Drugs Prices policy would help in ending the bias attitude against local investors. According to the sources, at present government is without any policy and the Price Regulatory Committee recommends prices. Health Ministry has asked stakeholders to provide their suggestions in formulating the policy and it is being expected that in February 2009 the task will be completed, sources said. The policy will decided a same criterion for both national and multinational companies and a standard procure will be set on which basis medicines prices will determined sources further added.