Cheaper cancer drugs, half the cure

According to the World Health Organization’s Global Status Report on Cancer, released in July, about half of cancer patients and their families face catastrophic health spending

From November 9, a pack of 21 capsules of one brand of palbociclib, a breast cancer drug, will cost ₹2,720 instead of ₹40,421. It is one of hundreds of cuts in the revised prices the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) published on Wednesday, all the result of the Centre’s decision to cap the share that distributors, chemists and hospitals can take on 137 cancer medicines at 30% of the maximum retail price.

A cancer diagnosis should not also be a sentence of debt. (Shutterstock)

According to the World Health Organization’s Global Status Report on Cancer, released in July, about half of cancer patients and their families face catastrophic health spending. In India, researchers who surveyed more than 12,000 patients at seven cancer centres for a 2023 study funded by the Union health ministry found that 80% of those treated as outpatients incurred catastrophic costs. Two in three of them were left with too little to meet their basic needs once treatment was paid for. Medicines were the biggest item in families’ hospital bills.

To be sure, the cap reaches only part of the bill. Nearly a quarter of the products in NPPA’s revised price list keep their old price, including some of the costliest drugs. The immunotherapy drug Keytruda still costs ₹2,16,500 a vial, and the lung cancer drug Tagrisso more than ₹4 lakh for 30 tablets. The cap trims only the supply chain’s share; for the newest treatments, most of the cost is the manufacturer’s own price.

Much of the supply of cancer drugs goes directly to hospitals, so the government must make their pharmacies honour the new prices. It also needs a separate answer on the prices of patented medicines. A cancer diagnosis should not also be a sentence of debt.