Govt caps trade margins on 137 anti-cancer drugs at 30 pc of MRP

New Delhi, October 18 (IANS) The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has capped trade margins on 137 non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs at 30 per cent of the maximum retail price (MRP), a move expected to reduce prices of several cancer medicines by up to 70 per cent and improve affordability for patients, according to an official statement.The intervention -- carried out under the Department of Pharmaceuticals in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers -- is part of the regulator's Trade Margin Rationalisation (TMR) exercise aimed at curbing excessive margins across the distribution chain.All manufacturers will be required to inform NPPA of their revised prices within 7 days of publication of the Gazette notification.The revised prices will become effective from November 9, 2026. Manufacturers will be required to display the price lists on their website and widely disseminate to all retailers and hospitals.All the retailers and hospitals will charge reduced prices effective November 9, 2026 and display the revised prices in their pharmacies. Hospitals shall also prominently display revised prices on their websites.Consumers can use the Pharma Sahi Daam app and NPPA website to check revised prices of drugs.By making anti-cancer drugs more affordable and accessible, this initiative will help ease the financial burden on patients and their families and support the broader public-health objective of equitable access to cancer treatment.The statement said that 137 identified non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs include Immunotherapy drugs used for treating over 20 type of cancers, Denosumab used by breast and prostate cancer patients, Pegfilgrastim which is used to prevent neutropenia in cancer patients and Bevacizumab, which is the approved drug to treat colon, ovary and cervical cancer.With this notification, MRP of widely used anti-cancer drugs such as Pembrolizumab, Durvalumab and Osimertinib is expected become more accessible for cancer patients.The intervention builds upon the success of NPPA's 2019 pilot TMR exercise, under which trade margins for 42 anti-cancer drugs were capped at 30%. Following that exercise, MRP of 526 brands of non-scheduled anti-cancer medicines was reduced by up to 90 per cent."The present exercise extends this approach to a larger set of anti-cancer drugs, based on the list recommended by the Expert Committee under the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS),” said the statement.