10 SOCIAL SCIENTIST prices were fixed, one of the major objections that has been raised against the Drug Price Control Order is that "actual costs of raw materials have not been taken into consideration while fixing prices59.7 Thus, all in all, it is clear that piecemeal attempts at contro^ do not serve the purpose of ensuring the production of more essential and cheaper drugs domestically. Such measures only tend to exaggerate the existing imbalances.' This is inevitable in a situation where multinational investment is directed towards ensuring oligopolistic dominance in the market of the host country, which permits the realization of high returns that can be passed on to foreign suppliers through tied imports of inputs at inflated prices. 1 C Vaitsos, "The Process of Commercialization of Technology in the Andean Pact", in Hugo Radice (ed). International Firms and Modern Imperialism, Penguin. 1975, pp 183-214. 2 For a discussion of transfer pricing in the drug industry in other Third World countries, see ibid, pp 206-213; Sanjaya Lall', "Transfer Pricing by Multinational Manufacturing Firms", Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, August 1973, pp 173-195; and Case Studies in the Transfer of Technology: Pharmaceutical Policies in Sri Lanka, TD/B/C. 6/20, UNCTAD, Geneva, 1977. 3 Government of India, Planning Commission, Sixth Five Year Plan, 1980-85 Part II, New Delhi, 1981. 4 J S Majumdar, "Drug Industry: Instruments of Policy", paper presented at a seminar on "The Drug Industry and the Indian People", New Delhi, 1981. 5 Case Studies in the Transfer of Technology; The Pharmaceutical Industry in India, UNCTAD, TD/B/C. 6/20. 6 Anil Agarwal, Drugs and the Third World, Earthscan Press, Briefing Document No 10, International Institute for Environment and Development, London^ 1978. 7 "Drug Pricing Crisis being Diffused", The Economic Times, 30 June 1981-