{"id":2290,"date":"2026-10-11T02:50:58","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T02:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/health.myinstants39.com\/centre-to-cap-trade-margins-on-non-scheduled-cancer-drugs-to-30-of-mrp\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T02:50:58","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T02:50:58","slug":"centre-to-cap-trade-margins-on-non-scheduled-cancer-drugs-to-30-of-mrp-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/?p=2290","title":{"rendered":"Centre to cap trade margins on non-scheduled cancer drugs to 30% of MRP"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a bid to make cancer treatment more affordable and reduce patients\u2019 out-of-pocket expenditure, the Union government has decided to cap trade margins at 30% of the maximum retail price (MRP)\u00a0for all non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs.<\/p>\n

Also read | Bitter pills: on Court\u2019s intervention, drug pricing<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

The measure will cover branded and generic drugs, domestically manufactured and imported medicines, and patented and non-patented products.\u00a0An expert committee under the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) will finalise the list of medicines to be brought under the measure.<\/p>\n

Current mark-ups up to 700%<\/h4>\n

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), which analysed market data, found that the average trade mark-up on non-scheduled anti-cancer medicines was around 170%, with mark-ups reaching up to 700% in some cases. It also found substantial differences between prices charged through retail, hospital, and online pharmacies.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhy India needs a smarter healthcare margin policy<\/div>\n
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The government said the decision was prompted by the high financial burden of cancer treatment. Around 75% of cancer treatment expenditure is estimated to be borne out of pocket.<\/p>\n

The anti-cancer medicines market comprises around 225 drugs and 500 formulations, with an annual turnover of approximately \u20b912,500 crore. Scheduled cancer medicines account for about \u20b92,250 crore.<\/p>\n

Massive savings<\/h4>\n

A senior official said that the government is drawing on the experience of a similar intervention in 2019, when the NPPA capped trade margins on 42 selected non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs by invoking its extraordinary powers under Paragraph 19 of the Drug Price Control Order, 2013.\u00a0The exercise had reportedly resulted in price reductions of up to 91%, with annual savings of \u20b9984 crore across 526 brands.<\/p>\n

The latest intervention is expected to result in price reductions of up to 70% of MRP\u00a0and annual savings of around \u20b92,500 crore, the government said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Production must be maintained\u2019<\/h4>\n

Under the new framework, the trade margin will be capped at 30% of MRP, equivalent to 42.86% of the price to stockist.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo ensure availability, manufacturers will be required to maintain their existing production level,\u201d said the official.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The government said the measure would regulate trade margins rather than manufacturers\u2019 selling prices or revenue, with the intervention aimed at reducing the margins retained across the distribution chain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Average trade mark-up on these drugs now around 170%, reaching 700% in some cases; intervention to cut prices by up to 70% of MRP, resulting in cumulative annual savings of \u20b92,500 crore for patients<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}