NEW DELHI: A Parliamentary panel has flagged that a substantial segment of cancer drugs are still beyond the ambit of current price control mechanisms and recommended measures to include the widest possible range of cancer drugs by expanding the scope of the Drugs Prices Control Order.
In its 163rd report presented on Wednesday, the Committee on Petitions, Rajya Sabha, headed by Narain Dass Gupta stressed that regular and comprehensive market assessments should be instituted to monitor prevailing drug prices and availability trends.
The panel recommended that the price caps enforced by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)—such as the existing 30% trade margin cap on 42 essential anticancer drugs—should also be extended to cover cancer vaccines, immunotherapy, and oral chemotherapy.
“This expansion of regulatory oversight is essential to containing insurer costs and making cancer insurance products more affordable and accessible to a wider population segment,” the panel noted.
Though significant steps have been taken in recent years towards strengthening the regulatory framework for governing the pricing of cancer drugs and promote affordability, a substantial segment of such drugs still remain beyond the ambit of current price control mechanisms, it said.
Amid growing cancer burden in the country, the panel recommended that cancer be declared as notifiable disease in order to ensure systematic reporting, generate real-time and credible data, strengthen surveillance, and enable evidence-based policymaking.
The panel suggested that Centre should levy a high-risk cess or heavy taxes on tobacco products. So that the revenue from the cess or taxes can be used for supplementing cancer research and cancer care across the country.
The panel also suggested rolling out of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine throughout the country and include it in the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) for girls aged 9-14 years. HPV has proven effective in prevention of cervical cancer which is the most common cancer among women in India.
“While some states have already made cancer notifiable, a national mandate would ensure uniform documentation and a clear picture of the disease burden," the panel said.
It also pointed out the need for community-level screening through primary healthcare infrastructure and also enhancing district level facilities for early cancer diagnostics and referral linkage.
Pointing out that over 70 percent of cancer cases in India are diagnosed at advanced stages—Stage III or IV—when intensive and costly interventions become necessary, it said that in contrast, early-stage detection improves recovery rates, enables patients to resume normal life sooner, and substantially reduces treatment expenses.
“However, due to social stigma and inadequate public awareness, cancer screening uptake remains low across both rural and urban areas."
The Committee emphasised that community-level screening through primary healthcare infrastructure, awareness generation, and the integration of preventive measures under national health programmes are central to reducing the cancer burden.
“In light of the low rate of cancer screening in the country, the Committee recommends that the Government should scale up the national screening programme, with particular focus on regions with limited access to medical care. In addition to expanding screening infrastructure, the Committee strongly urges the Government to intensify awareness campaigns across the country,” it added.
Highlighting the urgent need to establish additional diagnostic centres, especially in underserved and rural regions, it recommended that cancer diagnostic packages with standardised pricing be developed under government-regulated health insurance schemes to enable wider inclusion.
“The availability of diagnostic services at regulated package rates would facilitate the inclusion of such centres in insurer networks, thereby extending the cashless treatment facility to a broader section of beneficiaries,” it said.
The Committee also suggested that the quality of generics available in the country should be monitored and sustained as many medical professionals are hesitant to prescribe these as they are not certified under WHO-GMP (World Health Organisation- Good manufacturing practice).
Emphasising that the government must encourage research in the private sector and pharmaceutical companies should be encouraged to invest in high level research in oncology, it noted a lack of synergy between the private sector medical institutions and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare regarding the procedures for approval of clinical trials in the country.
It also recommended a coordinated inter-ministerial strategy—particularly between Health, Environment, and Agriculture—to address environmental risk factors, stressing that siloed approaches are counterproductive and synergy is essential to mitigate long-term health impacts.
(With inputs from PTI)
