NPPA directs health ministry to cap cancer drug profit margin to 30 pc
In Short
Calling it a historic day, Khader said the health department’s efforts to address the difficulties faced by patients and their families in accessing medical treatment have begun yielding results.
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Bengaluru: Health Minister U T Khader on Saturday said the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has directed the Union Health Ministry to submit a list of the cancer medicines along with details of their profit margins, which are to be restricted to 30 per cent. Calling it a historic day, Khader said the health department’s efforts to address the difficulties faced by patients and their families in accessing medical treatment have begun yielding results.
“The NPPA has directed the health ministry to submit, by October 14, a list of the cancer medicines concerned along with details of their profit margins, which are to be restricted to 30 per cent,” Khader said in a press conference. Terming it an important development, the minister said that until now, medicine packages generally displayed only the maximum retail price (MRP), leaving consumers with little information about the actual costs involved.
According to him, the measure would require greater transparency, enabling people to understand the pricing and making it possible to take action against companies charging profit margins above the prescribed limit. “If a 30 per cent cap is implemented, the prices of several expensive medicines could come down substantially. Some medicines costing Rs 3,000 are sold at Rs 25,000, while an injection reportedly costing Rs 5,000 was being sold at Rs 65,000 in another instance,” Khader explained.
Cancer treatment often requires multiple injections, sometimes 10 or 12, pushing the overall cost into several lakhs of rupees. Bringing these prices under control would significantly reduce the financial burden on patients, he observed. “Effective implementation of the proposed measures could reduce out-of-pocket expenditure by around Rs 2,500 crore. I am confident that the Union health department will implement the NPPA’s directions,” the minister said.
Khader said the department will also submit representations to the NPPA board and Centre, urging them to take the matter forward. He also outlined that the efforts will not be confined to cancer medicines as Karnataka would seek similar regulation of expensive medicines and medical equipment used to treat other serious conditions, including heart disease and kidney ailments. “Some machines cost Rs 3 crore, Rs 5 crore, Rs 25 crore or even Rs 60 crore. Introducing reasonable limits on profit margins could indirectly benefit patients by reducing treatment costs,” he pointed out.
The minister explained that hospitals often justify their charges by citing the cost of their equipment, and ordinary patients generally lack the technical knowledge to assess such claims or understand the specifications and actual costs of the equipment. “We need greater transparency in these matters. Any practice that places an excessive financial burden on the public must be examined, while ensuring that manufacturers are not unfairly pushed into losses and patients are not exploited through excessive profit margins,” he noted.
A balanced regulatory framework would benefit people across the country. Khader said that within a month of assuming office, he wrote to the Union health minister highlighting the exorbitant prices of cancer medicines and requesting measures to bring them under the national drug price regulation framework, which finally started yielding results.
