Lok Sabha Question No. 1653 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-11
Subject: Medicines for Cancer Patients
Ministry: CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS
Asked by: Jayanta Kumar Roy, Raja Amareshwara Naik, Vinod Kumar Sonkar, Bhola Singh, Rajveer (Raju Bhaiya) Singh, Sukanta Majumdar, Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS

## DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACEUTICALS

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1653

TO BE ANSWERED ON 11 th FEBRUARY, 2022

## Medicines for Cancer Patients

1653.   DR. JAYANTA KUMAR ROY:

SHRI RAJA AMARESHWARA NAIK:

SHRI VINOD KUMAR SONKAR:

SHRI BHOLA SINGH:

SHRI RAJVEER SINGH (RAJU BHAIYA):

DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR:

SHRIMATI SANGEETA KUMARI SINGH DEO:

Will the Minister of CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware about increasing number of cancer patients in the country especially among the lower and lower middle sections of the population;
- (b) if so, the steps taken to ensure availability of medicines for cancer patients at cheaper rates;
- (c) whether the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority has notified certain medicines for cancer and put a cap on the price, if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the steps taken by the Government to ensure that the cancer medicines are manufactured at large scale by drug companies and distributed at cheaper rates to poor patients and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS (DR. MANSUKH MANDAVIYA)

(a): As per the report of the National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP) of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare for the year 2020, the annual figures of estimated incidence and mortality of cancer cases are as under:

| Year                                | 2017      | 2018      | 2019      |
|-------------------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Estimated incidence of cancer cases | 12,92,534 | 13,25,232 | 13,58,415 |
| Estimated mortality of cancer cases | 7,15,010  | 7,33,139  | 7,51,517  |

The projected number of incidences of cancer cases in the country for the year 2025 is 15.7 lakhs.

- (b)  and  (c):  National  Pharmaceutical  Pricing  Authority  (NPPA)  under  the  Department  of Pharmaceuticals has fixed the ceiling prices of 86 anti-cancer scheduled formulations under the National List of Essential Medicines, 2015 (NLEM, 2015). Further, the NPPA, vide order S.O.  1041(E)  dated  27 th February,  2019  has  put  a  cap  on  Trade  Margin  of  42  select  non-

scheduled  anti-cancer  medicines  under  'Trade  Margin  Rationalization'  Approach.  By  this approach,  the  Maximum  Retail  Price  (MRP)  of  526  brands  of  these  medicines  have  been reduced by up to 90%. This move has resulted in annual savings of around Rs. 984 crore to the patients.  The  details  of  revised  prices  are  available  on  the  website  of  the  NPPA,  i.e., nppaindia.nic.in.

(d): The government ensures that the scheduled drugs for cancer are not sold above their ceiling price fixed by NPPA and non-scheduled drugs do not avail increase in MRP beyond 10 percent in  preceding  12  months.   Drugs  (Prices  Control)  Order,  2013  (DPCO,  2013)  provide  for deposition of overcharge amount by the manufacturers in case of default in implementing the provisions  of  the  Order.  Further,  in  order  to  ensure  adequate  availability  and  regulate  the distribution of drugs, the extant provisions of the DPCO provides for issuance of directions to manufacturers  of  scheduled  formulations  and  Active  Pharmaceuticals  Ingredients  (APIs) contained in the scheduled formulation to increase their production in case of emergency or in circumstances of urgency, in public interest.

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