Cancer Drug Shortage: Centre Allows Price Hike For Lifesaving Chemotherapy Drugs

The Centre has approved a proposal to allow price increases for cisplatin and carboplatin, two of the most widely used chemotherapy drugs in India, amid growing concerns over their shortage across the country, News18 reported.

The move is being seen as the government's first formal acknowledgment of the supply crisis affecting these critical cancer medicines.

The approval was granted by the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers through a June 7 communication to the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA). The government has agreed, in principle, to invoke Paragraph 19 of the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO), 2013, a special provision that allows authorities to intervene in exceptional situations to ensure the availability and affordability of essential medicines.

Cisplatin and carboplatin are considered frontline chemotherapy drugs and are widely used in the treatment of several types of cancer. Their shortage has raised concerns among hospitals, doctors and patients, particularly as cancer cases continue to rise across India.

India faces a significant cancer burden, with a large number of patients depending on these medicines during the course of their treatment. Any disruption in supply can have serious consequences for patient care and treatment schedules.

According to documents accessed by News18, a government-appointed Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) reviewed requests seeking price revisions for 82 scheduled drug formulations. Pharmaceutical companies had argued that rising costs of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), increased manufacturing expenses, foreign exchange fluctuations and other factors had made production financially challenging.

After examining the applications, the committee recommended price revisions for only four formulations. These included one formulation each of carboplatin and cisplatin injections, along with two formulations of anti-tetanus immunoglobulin injections.

The committee noted that the selected drugs faced significant increases in raw material costs and there were concerns about their continued availability in the market. It also highlighted warnings from Tata Memorial Hospital, one of India's leading cancer treatment centres, regarding shortages of carboplatin and cisplatin injections.

The committee observed that both medicines are extensively used as first-line chemotherapy treatments for various cancers and stressed that uninterrupted access to them is crucial from a public health perspective.

While the government has approved the use of Paragraph 19 in principle, the move is expected to pave the way for price revisions aimed at encouraging manufacturers to continue producing and supplying the medicines.

The remaining 78 drug formulations that sought price increases have not yet received approval. The committee has requested additional information before taking a final decision on those applications.

The development signals the Centre's willingness to take extraordinary measures to address shortages of life-saving medicines and ensure that cancer patients continue to receive timely treatment, according to the report.