More than 1,000 anti-cancer medicine formulations become cheaper across India from Monday, 9 November, after the drug pricing regulator capped trade margins on 137 cancer drugs at 30 percent.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) issued the order on 17 October under Paragraph 19 of the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013, which allows the government to intervene on prices in the public interest. The revised maximum retail prices take effect from 9 November.

According to the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, 76 pharmaceutical companies have reported revised prices for 1,225 formulations covering 121 of the 137 drugs. Of those, 1,031 formulations carry a lower price, and 600 brands have been cut by more than 50 percent. The largest single reduction reported is 96.45 percent.

Sharp cuts on some treatments

Some individual medicines show very large falls. One chemotherapy injection, Samtepa, falls from Rs 80,071.86 to Rs 7,150.33 for a 100 mg vial, a cut of about 91 percent. Palbopro, a breast cancer medicine containing palbociclib, falls 93.3 percent, from Rs 40,421.33 to Rs 2,720 for 21 capsules of 125 mg each.

The government estimates the changes could save patients around Rs 3,502.31 crore a year. That figure is a projection based on reported prices, not savings already realised.

The regulator acted after finding that the average trade mark-up on non-scheduled anti-cancer medicines was nearly 170 percent, reaching 700 percent in some cases. The trade margin is the share of the final price retained between the price charged to distributors and the maximum retail price paid by patients.

Not every medicine is cheaper

The cuts do not apply evenly. Of 643 product entries analysed, 159 saw no price reduction, and experts have cautioned against assuming that whole classes of treatment, from chemotherapy to immunotherapy, are now cheaper. Between 10 and 15 of the 137 named drugs have not yet launched in India, so the cap will only apply to them once they reach the market.

The 137 medicines are non-scheduled drugs, meaning they sit outside the routine ceiling prices applied to medicines listed in Schedule I of the Drugs (Prices Control) Order. The intervention covers chemotherapy, targeted treatments, hormonal medicines, immunotherapies and supportive medicines, including pembrolizumab, nivolumab, osimertinib and bevacizumab, across branded and generic products, imports and patented medicines.

The order remains in force until further notice, although manufacturers may still take the annual price increase allowed under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, provided their trade margin stays within 30 percent.

Patients can check the price of a medicine on the NPPA website or through the Pharma Sahi Daam mobile application, and can report overcharging to the regulator on its helpline, 1800-11-1255.