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As revised prices of non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs take effect from November 9, the pharma secretary explains why the government stepped in
The cap brings an MRP down only where the trade margin was above 30 per cent, and some innovator brands were already within that limit. (Canva Image for Representation)
Cancer patients across India will pay less for their medicines from Monday, as revised prices for non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs come into effect.
The cuts follow the country’s drug pricing regulator National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority’s (NPPA) decision on October 17 to cap trade margins on 137 non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs at 30 per cent of the maximum retail price (MRP).
A trade margin is the difference between the price at which a drug company sells a medicine to a distributor and the MRP the patient pays. The NPPA has said the cap is expected to bring MRPs down by up to 70 per cent.
“We have been analysing the pharma market to see what interventions the government could do, considering the high prices of cancer medicines,” Manoj Joshi, secretary of the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), told CNN-News18 in an exclusive interview.
“The data showed that very high margins were being charged, mainly because hospitals or pharmacies were buying drugs from the companies who were giving higher margins.”
When More Competition Meant Higher Prices
Usually, when many companies sell the same medicine, competition pushes prices down. In cancer drugs, it pushed them up.
“There was a perverse type of incentive working. More competition, higher the margin, higher the prices. In the drugs where there are only one or two suppliers, margins are much lower. We felt it’s a malpractice which was prevalent in the sector that needed to be addressed,” Joshi said.
“The purpose of Trade Margin Rationalisation is to control the unhealthy margins without interfering with the pricing of the companies manufacturing cancer drugs,” he said.
All Cancer Drugs Covered
The list of 137 drugs was drawn up by an expert committee of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
“The Expert committee under DGHS, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had many oncologists, they collected all the possible drugs. We have covered all the cancer drugs. So far 120 drugs have been reported by the companies. About 10-15 drugs identified by the panel are not launched yet in India,” Joshi said.
Why Some Prices Have Not Changed
Not every cancer drug costs less from today. The cap brings an MRP down only where the trade margin was above 30 per cent, and some innovator brands were already within that limit.
The Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) represents research-based or foreign based drug companies. Its director general, Anil Matai, told News18 that an unchanged price does not mean a company is breaking the rules.
“The formula lowers an MRP only where the existing margin is above 30%. Where the margin is already within the cap, it returns the same MRP,” Matai said.
“That is the position for innovative oncology medicines supplied by member companies of OPPI whose trade margins do not exceed 30%. Their MRPs have therefore not changed. An unchanged MRP is not a failure of the policy or a sign of non-compliance. It shows the margin was already within the limit the government has set now for the entire market,” he said.
Matai said new cancer medicines are costly because they are expensive to develop. “Innovative cancer therapies are not comparable to long-time established medicines,” he said. “Clinical testing alone accounts for 50 to 70% of the R&D expenditure, given the complexity, duration, and number of human participants. This is why the price of an innovative therapy may appear high even when its trade margins are fully within the cap.”
He said companies also offer these drugs free or at a lower price to some patients through patient assistance programmes (PAPs).
Old Stock, Old MRP
According to Joshi, revised MRP will come into effect from November 9. All hospitals, pharmacies, and companies are required to display the revised MRP on their websites.
“People can check on the NPPA website also. The medicines already in the market will show the old MRP. Only when the new batches come, they would have revised MRP on them. Withdrawing the medicines already in the market for relabelling would have caused availability, accessibility problems,” he said.
Patients can check the revised price of their medicine on the NPPA website or on the NPPA’s Pharma Sahi Daam app before they pay.
“Patients or their family who are buying medicines, they can bring to our notice any discrepancies, we will take action,” Joshi said.
Quick Answers
Ask News18The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority capped trade margins on 137 non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs at 30 percent of the maximum retail price to reduce medicine costs by up to 70 percent.
Ask News18About the Author
Himani Chandna, Senior Associate Editor at CNN-News18, tracks healthcare, pharma and medical research, bringing clarity to complex science and policy.
November 09, 2026, 1:32 PM IST
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