New Delhi: India’s move to cap trade margins on 137 non-scheduled anti-cancer medicines has led 70 companies to cut maximum retail prices by an average 20 per cent to 70 per cent on 120 medicines, with estimated patient savings of Rs 3,357.49 crore, an official factsheet said on Friday.
The government said the price revision for 120 drugs have been made as of November 4, with the steepest reduction reaching 96.45 per cent and that the revised prices will take effect from November 9.
The government has capped excessive markups along the pharmaceutical supply chain, in retail and hospital pharmacies across the country, to make cancer treatment in India more affordable.
The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) on October 17 capped the trade margin on medicines, including patented drugs, at 30 per cent of the maximum retail price (MRP), aiming to reduce excessive mark-ups across distributors, retailers and hospital pharmacies.
The estimated patients savings estimate represents the difference between the original and revised prices, applied to the volume sold from April 2025 to March 2026. The cap responds to concerns raised by state authorities, patients and civil society about the gap between the procurement price and the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of anti-cancer medicines.
Consumers can verify prices using both the NPPA website and the official Pharma Sahi Daam mobile application. The new prices are worked out from the distributor price of March 2026.
Manufacturers must recalculate their maximum retail prices using their average distributor prices from March 2026. Free medicines given under patient assistance programmes and direct government sales do not count in this calculation.
NPPA has put up the revised prices of these medicines on its website, and the list is updated as and when companies submit their revised prices.
Trade margin is the difference between the price a manufacturer charges a stockist or distributor and the highest price (MRP) a patient pays for a medicine excluding Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The government piloted a Trade Margin Rationalisation (TMR) intervention in 2019 covering 42 non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs, which successfully drove down patient costs to address high prices beyond these scheduled essential drugs.
Companies must inform NPPA of their revised prices. They must also publish the price cuts in newspapers, post them on their websites, and share them with all retailers and hospitals, the statement noted.
(IANS)
