Rs 2,700 cancer drug selling for Rs 27,000: Supreme Court calls it daylight robbery

The petitions alleged that private hospitals prevented patients from purchasing medicines elsewhere and forced them to buy drugs from in-house pharmacies at inflated MRPs.

In Short

• Court questions why regulators failed to curb medical inflation
• Bench argues reimbursements of schemes shift costs to taxpayers
• Two PILs accuse hospitals, drugmakers of exploiting patients

The Supreme Court has described the steep markup on essential cancer medicines as “daylight robbery” after being told that a drug available to retailers for Rs 2,700 carried a maximum retail price of Rs 27,000.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta questioned how patients could be charged 10 times the procurement price and why the authorities had failed to intervene.

The court also raised concerns about hospitals purchasing medicines at inflated prices and claiming reimbursement under government health schemes, including CGHS, DGHS and AYUSH.

The bench said the cost was ultimately borne by taxpayers and described the practice as a clear case of fraud and exploitation.

The court was hearing two public interest petitions concerning inflated cancer drug prices, profiteering by pharmaceutical companies and retailers, and the practices of hospital-run pharmacies.

The petitions alleged that private hospitals prevented patients from purchasing medicines elsewhere and forced them to buy drugs from in-house pharmacies at inflated MRPs.

One of the petitions was filed by a family after the mother of one petitioner and the wife of another were diagnosed with breast cancer in July.

The family alleged that during treatment and chemotherapy, it saw private hospitals compel patients to purchase expensive medicines from their pharmacies. Patients who sought cheaper generic alternatives were treated dismissively, the petition said.

The second plea alleged that registered medical practitioners were not prescribing cheaper generic medicines and accused pharmaceutical companies and retailers of unethical profiteering.

The petitioners have sought stricter enforcement of the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013, to curb excessive markups on medicines and protect patients.

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