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India Cuts Prices of 137 Cancer Drugs by Up to 70% to Boost Affordability
M
Moneycontrol•18-10-2026, 19:16
India Cuts Prices of 137 Cancer Drugs by Up to 70% to Boost Affordability
- •India has expanded essential anti-cancer drug price controls to make treatments in its 2.6 billion dollar oncology market more affordable.
- •Prices for 137 identified non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs will drop by up to 70 percent starting November 9.
- •The price cuts include immunotherapy drugs for 20 types of cancer, as well as treatments for breast, prostate, colon, ovary, and cervical cancer.
- •Margins on these medicines will be capped at 30 percent of the maximum retail price, saving patients an estimated 25 billion rupees annually.
- •The policy applies uniformly across branded, generic, domestic, imported, patented, and non-patented medications.
Key Questions Answered
The Indian government has capped trade margins on 137 non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs at 30% of the maximum retail price, reducing costs by up to 70% effective November 9.
India introduced a pilot exercise in 2019 that capped trade margins for 42 anti-cancer drugs at 30%, which lowered prices for 526 brand formulations by up to 90%.
India's Supreme Court probed allegations that hospitals made patients buy high-margin lifesaving drugs from designated pharmacies at markups of up to 10 times, prompting a push for uniform pricing.
