New Delhi: On the eve of the announcement of the election schedule, the government reduced the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of 390 non-schedule cancer medicines by up to 87 per cent, bringing a huge relief to the cancer patients.
This move is expected to benefit 22 lakh cancer patients in the country and would result in annual savings of around Rs 800 crore to the patients, a government statement said.
While the MRP of 38 brands has been reduced by 75 per cent and more, 124 brands have seen a reduction between 50 per cent to 75 per cent.
The MRP of 121 brands has been reduced between 25 per cent to 50 per cent, while the maximum retail price of 107 brands has been reduced below 25 per cent, the statement said.
But the fall in the prices of patented drugs is still very negligible, ranging between 1-3 per cent in most of the cases, co-convenor of All India Drug Action Network Malini Aisola said.
The move may not change retail prices much but patients are likely to be benefitted in hospitals.
“Care should be taken that the whole benefit is passed on in its entirety to patients and they don’t have to bear added costs on other fees as many of the anti-cancer medicines are administered in hospitals,” president of Karnataka Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Manufacturers’ Association Sunil Attavar told The Print.
