Lok Sabha Question No. 5597 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-04-04
Subject: Cancer Drugs
Ministry: CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS
Asked by: Shri Dhairyasheel Sambhajirao Mane, Shri Chavan Ravindra Vasantrao

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACEUTICALS

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 5597 TO BE ANSWERED ON 04 TH  APRIL 2025

## Cancer Drugs

## 5597.   Shri Chavan Ravindra Vasantrao: Shri Dhairyasheel Sambhajirao Mane:

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

- (a) whether most cancer drugs, at present, are imported making them prohibitively expensive;
- (b)  if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  corrective  measures  taken/being  taken  by  the Government to reduce the import of cancer drugs in the country;
- (c) whether as per data from the ICMR, cancer burden is likely to increase in coming years in the country, and if so, the details thereof;
- (d)  whether  the  country's  drug  makers  are  producing  cancer  drugs  under  the  Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme;
- (e) if so, the details along with the results thereof; and
- (f)  the  manner  in  which  this  step  of  the  Government  will  boost  domestic  production  and strengthen the position of the country as the pharmacy of the world?

## ANSWER

## THE  MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  CHEMICALS  AND FERTILIZERS

(SMT. ANUPRIYA PATEL)

(a) and (b): As per data of the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics for the financial year 2024-25 (till the month of December 2024), anti-cancer medicines worth US$ 41.52 million  were  imported  into  the  country.  The  Department  is  implementing  the Production  Linked  Incentive  (PLI)  scheme  for  pharmaceuticals  to  increase  domestic production of high-value medicines, including anti-cancer drugs.

(c): As per data of the National Cancer Registry Programme of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the estimated number of incidence of cancer cases in the country for the year  2025  is  15,69,793.  As  per  the  Global  Cancer  Observatory,  International  Agency  for Research on Cancer, the estimated number of incidence of cancer cases in India is likely to increase to 22,18,694 by the year 2040.

(d) to (f): Under the PLI Scheme for Pharmaceuticals, financial incentive is provided to 55 selected applicants for manufacturing identified products, which include anti-cancer drugs. Details regarding the anti-cancer drugs manufactured under the scheme, including the details of domestic sales and exports of such drugs during the last three years, are at Annexure.

Annexure referred to in the reply to parts (d) to (f) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Q. No. 5597 for  answer  on  4.4.2025,  raised  by  Shri  Chavan  Ravindra  Vasantrao  and  Shri Dhairyasheel Sambhajirao Mane, regarding Cancer Drugs

## Details of anti-cancer drugs being manufactured under the PLI Scheme for Pharmaceuticals

|   S. No. | Anti-cancer drug                | Therapeutic use                                                         |
|----------|---------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|        1 | Abiraterone                     | Prostate cancer                                                         |
|        2 | Afatinib                        | Lung cancer                                                             |
|        3 | Anastrozole                     | Breast cancer                                                           |
|        4 | Apalutamide                     | Prostate cancer                                                         |
|        5 | Arsenic trioxide                | Acute promyelocytic leukaemia                                           |
|        6 | Axitinib                        | Advanced renal cell carcinoma                                           |
|        7 | Azacitidine                     | Myelomonocytic leukaemia                                                |
|        8 | Bendamustine                    | Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia                                           |
|        9 | Bevacizumab                     | Colorectal, Lung and Ovarian cancer                                     |
|       10 | Bexarotene                      | Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma                                               |
|       11 | Bicalutimide                    | Spread of cancer Cells                                                  |
|       12 | Bleomycin                       | Testicular cancer                                                       |
|       13 | Bortezomib                      | Blood plasma cell cancer                                                |
|       14 | Bosutinib monohydrate           | Chronic myelogenous leukaemia                                           |
|       15 | Busulphan                       | Chronic myelogenous leukaemia                                           |
|       16 | Cabazitaxel                     | Castration-resistant prostate cancer                                    |
|       17 | Cabozantinib                    | Medullary thyroid cancer                                                |
|       18 | Capecitabine                    | Metastatic Breast and Colorectal Cancers                                |
|       19 | Capecitabine + cyclophosphamide | Metastatic colorectal cancer                                            |
|       20 | Carboplatin                     | Cancer of the Ovaries                                                   |
|       21 | Carfilzomib                     | Multiple myeloma                                                        |
|       22 | Carmustine                      | Lymphomas and Brain Tumours                                             |
|       23 | Cisplatin                       | Bladder, Ovarian and Testicular Cancers                                 |
|       24 | Clofarabine                     | Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia                                           |
|       25 | Cyclophosphamide                | Cancer of the ovaries and breast                                        |
|       26 | Cytarabine                      | Cancer of the white blood cells                                         |
|       27 | Decitabine                      | Myelodysplastic syndromes                                               |
|       28 | Docetaxcel                      | Breast, ovarian and non-small cell lung cancer                          |
|       29 | Doxorubicin hydrochloride       | Leukaemia and lymphoma                                                  |
|       30 | Enzalutamide                    | Prostate cancer                                                         |
|       31 | Epirubicin                      | Breast cancer                                                           |
|       32 | Eribulin                        | Metastatic breast cancer                                                |
|       33 | Erlotinib hydrochloride         | Lung cancer and pancreatic cancer                                       |
|       34 | Etoposide                       | Various cancers such as testicular, prostate, bladder, stomach and lung |
|       35 | Everolimus                      | Renal cell cancer and other tumours                                     |

|   36 | Exemestane              | Breast cancer                                            |
|------|-------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|
|   37 | Fluorouracil            | Breast cancer                                            |
|   38 | Fulvestrant             | Breast cancer                                            |
|   39 | Gefitinib               | Breast, lung and other cancers                           |
|   40 | Gemceitabine            | Pancreatic, breast, lung and ovarian cancers             |
|   41 | Ibrutinib               | Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia                            |
|   42 | Imatinib                | Chronic myelogenous leukaemia                            |
|   43 | Imiquimod               | Basal cell carcinoma                                     |
|   44 | Irinotecan              | Colon cancer and small cell lung cancer                  |
|   45 | Lenalidomide            | Multiple myeloma, myelodysplastic syndromes              |
|   46 | Lenvatinib              | Progressive, differentiated thyroid cancer               |
|   47 | Letrozole               | Breast cancer                                            |
|   48 | Leuprolide acetate      | Prostate cancer                                          |
|   49 | Melphalan               | Multiple myeloma                                         |
|   50 | Methotrexate            | Breast, head and neck, lung and blood cancer             |
|   51 | Midostaurin             | Acute myeloid leukaemia                                  |
|   52 | Nano paclitaxel         | Breast, lung and pancreatic cancer                       |
|   53 | Nelarabine              | T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia                     |
|   54 | Nilotinib               | Chronic myeloid leukaemia                                |
|   55 | Nimotuzumab             | Head and neck cancer and cancer of colon and rectum      |
|   56 | Olaparib                | Ovarian cancer and fallopian tube cancer                 |
|   57 | Oxaliplatin             | Colon or rectal cancer                                   |
|   58 | Paclitaxel              | Breast, ovarian and lung cancer                          |
|   59 | Palbociclib             | Metastatic breast cancer                                 |
|   60 | Pazopanib               | Advanced renal cell carcinoma                            |
|   61 | Pegaspargase            | Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia                            |
|   62 | Peglypodoxorubicin      | Ovarian cancer and Kaposi sarcoma                        |
|   63 | Pemetrexed              | Metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer       |
|   64 | Rituximab               | Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia |
|   65 | Sorafenib tosylate      | Kidney cancer                                            |
|   66 | Sunitinib               | Renal cell carcinoma                                     |
|   67 | Tamoxifen citrate       | Breast cancer                                            |
|   68 | Temozolomide            | Brain tumours                                            |
|   69 | Thiotepa                | Breast, ovarian and bladder cancer                       |
|   70 | Topotecan hydrochloride | Ovarian, lung and cervical cancer                        |
|   71 | Toremifene citrate      | Breast cancer                                            |
|   72 | Trabectidine            | Advanced soft-tissue sarcoma                             |
|   73 | Trastuzumab             | Breast and stomach cancer                                |
|   74 | Venetoclax              | Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia                            |
|   75 | Vinorelbine tartrate    | Non-small cell lung cancer and breast cancer             |

Sales and exports of anti-cancer drugs manufactured under the PLI Scheme for Pharmaceuticals

| Financial year               | Domestic sales (in crore ₹)   | Export sales (in crore ₹)   | Total sales (in crore ₹)   |
|------------------------------|-------------------------------|-----------------------------|----------------------------|
| 2022-23                      | 1,402.58                      | 9,373.7                     | 10,776.28                  |
| 2023-24                      | 1,776.24                      | 13,258.65                   | 15,034.89                  |
| 2024-25 (till December 2024) | 1,521.48                      | 11,602.29                   | 13,123.77                  |

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