NEW DELHI: Cancer drugs will soon become cheaper as the centre is all set to announce capping trade margins at 30% over the cost to distributors.
According to official sources, the move will mean that cancer drugs will see a 70% slash in retail prices.
This will help bring down prices of 110 anti-cancer drugs, including 35 patented medicines, official sources added.
The Department of Pharmaceuticals, under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, which will be announcing the price cut in cancer drugs in ten days, comes in the wake of the Supreme Court questioning the huge gap between the Price to Retailer (PTR) and Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of some cancer medicines.
Official sources said the government plans to cap trade margins at 30 % of maximum retail price for all non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs, covering branded and generic, domestic and imported, patented, and non-patented medicines.
The decision would address excessive trade mark-ups and aims to improve affordability while ensuring continued availability of these life-saving medicines.
The step will lead to an estimated annual savings of Rs 2,500 crore for cancer patients, official sources added.
On September 29, the apex court had voiced its concern on the issue of the highly inflated price of anti-cancer drugs.
Batting for a uniform 16 % margin on all medicines, a bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the centre, “This is carnage. Plain and simple. The cancer drug is priced at an MRP of Rs 27,000 despite being supplied to retailers for Rs 2,700.”
The apex court had also questioned why a common uniform margin was not considered for medicines and asked the government to examine the issue. It had also raised the issue of corporate hospitals asking patients to buy medicines from their pharmacies only, despite the treatment being reimbursed under the government schemes.
Official sources said the decision to cap the margins on the drugs was not related to the ongoing case but has been in the works since 2019.
They said that the health department has constituted a committee to finalise the list of drugs and the issue of pricing of other medicines needs a calibrated approach. Once the list is finalised, these cancer medicines with the new rates will also be available at hospitals.
India reports more than 15 lakh new cancer cases each year. For patients, the high price of cancer drugs leads to financial toxicity.