BENGALURU, Sept. 28 -- Karnataka's Food and Drug Administration has asked the Centre to intervene against 254 pharmaceutical companies over what it says are extreme gaps between the prices at which medicines are supplied to hospitals and the amounts patients are charged, with some products carrying MRPs more than 70 times their reported landing costs.

Karnataka FDA Commissioner K Srinivas has sent the pricing details to the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) and the Central Drugs Control Agency, seeking regulation under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013. The state has also sought limits on trade margins for medicines, medical devices and hospital consumables.

Among the cases cited by the department, a medicine procure...