Cancer drug prices cut across India; 679 brands now cost less than half

Lower prices for 1,364 cancer medicines took effect across India on 9 November, after the Centre limited how much traders can earn on them, the Department of Pharmaceuticals said.

For 679 brands, the new price is less than half the old one. The steepest single cut was 96.45%. The department expects patients to save about ₹3,540 crore a year.

What changed

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), which regulates drug prices, capped trade margins on 137 cancer drugs at 30% in October. The trade margin is the gap between what a company charges its distributors and what a patient pays at the chemist’s counter. Bringing that gap down pulls the printed price down with it.

By 8 November, 85 companies had reported new maximum retail prices for 1,364 formulations of 121 drugs, the department said. The capped list includes some newer, patented medicines, such as pembrolizumab and osimertinib. Makers must keep producing these medicines at current levels.

The cap covers “non-scheduled” drugs, which are outside the National List of Essential Medicines. The regulator already sets ceiling prices for the cancer drugs on that list, and those are not affected.

The background

The NPPA tried the same approach in 2019, when it capped margins on 42 cancer drugs at 30%. The government said then that prices of 390 brands fell, some by as much as 87%.

Some health activists have questioned whether a margin cap alone will make costly patented cancer drugs affordable, since their base prices stay high.

What’s next

The NPPA has been publishing revised prices in batches as companies report them, starting with a list of 543 brands in late October. More brands are expected to be added as further reports come in.