Govt clears higher prices for cancer drugs, anti-tetanus shots amid acute shortage

The government has permitted higher prices for some essential cancer drugs after shortages disrupted treatment across hospitals and cancer centres. The move is aimed at restoring supplies, but it has also raised concerns over affordability and continuity of care.

In Short

• Cisplatin and carboplatin remain central to treating several major solid tumours
• Only four medicines have received revised prices after inter-ministerial consultations
• Drugmakers sought revisions for 82 medicines amid steep manufacturing cost increases

India’s cancer treatment ecosystem has been facing a deepening crisis as shortages of essential chemotherapy medicines disrupt care across hospitals and cancer centres.

In response, the government has allowed higher prices for certain life-saving cancer drugs, a step aimed at restoring supplies but one that also raises concerns about affordability for patients already battling a costly disease.

At the heart of the crisis are platinum-based chemotherapy drugs such as cisplatin and carboplatin, which form the backbone of treatment for a wide range of cancers, including lung, ovarian, cervical, head and neck, bladder and gastrointestinal cancers.

Doctors say these medicines remain among the most effective treatment options for many solid tumours, with limited substitutes available.

In addition, the maximum retail prices of two anti-tetanus shots have also been approved by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)following permission by the Union government’s department of pharmaceuticals (DOP).

Industry sources told India Today that drugmakers had reached out to the government asking for price revision on 82 medicines – citing that their production costs had gone substantially up due to the US-Iran conflict linked to the Hormuz crisis and other factors.

VIABILITY CONCERNS

The price hike, however, has been permitted only for 4 medicines as of now, following inter-ministerial consultations.

In India, about 387 medicines and about 1000 formulations across 27 therapeutic categories are classified as scheduled drugs and included in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM).

The MRP for each of these medicines is fixed by the government every year.

“In cases where the cost of production goes up substantially and the MRP is too low, drugmakers tend to reduce manufacturing to offset losses and this leads to shortages of medicines – which is what has been happening in the case of 82 medicines,” a senior office-bearer in the Indian Drug Manufacturing Association (IDMA)- a large network of generic drugmakers - said.

The shortage has intensified over recent months, forcing hospitals to ration stocks, delay treatment schedules and seek emergency procurement channels.

Patients and families are increasingly being pushed into frantic searches across cities and states to secure doses that were once routinely available, veteran oncologist Dr Shyam Agarwal, associated with Sir Gangaram Hospital in Delhi, had told India Today.

Medical experts had been warning that prolonged disruptions could directly affect treatment outcomes, particularly for patients undergoing curative therapy where timing and continuity are critical.

The concerns were also flagged by Mumbai-based Tata Memorial Centre, the country's leading cancer institute.

Industry executives had attributed the supply crunch to a sharp rise in the cost of platinum, a key raw material used in manufacturing these drugs.

Platinum prices have surged dramatically over the past year, while manufacturers remain constrained by government-imposed price ceilings that limit their ability to pass on higher input costs.

- Ends