Cancer: NPPA raises price cap on key drugs amid shortage
Here's a regulator you should be able to name in your sleep. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, the NPPA, has raised the price ceiling on two key cancer drugs, cisplatin and carboplatin, by about fifty percent. Why raise the cap? Because raw material costs surged and hospitals faced shortages, so the NPPA used special public-interest powers to allow higher prices and keep supplies flowing. These platinum-based drugs treat ovarian, lung and bladder cancers. So for your CLAT prep, just remember the NPPA fixes and controls drug prices in India, and it can tweak ceilings to prevent shortages of essential medicines.
The ceiling rate for cisplatin was raised to ₹10.89 ($0.1144) per ml from ₹7.26, while that for carboplatin was increased to ₹90.74 ($0.9530) per ml from ₹60.49 excluding taxes, the notification showed.
India’s drug price regulator raised ceiling rates for two key platinum-basedcancerdrugs by 50 per cent after a surge in raw material costs triggered widespread shortages, according to a government notification seen byReuters.
TheNational Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)invoked special provisions to raise rates for the drugs after receiving federal government approval citing public interest, according to the notification dated June 11.
Patients in the world’s most populous country have been grappling with shortages of platinum-based cancer drugs cisplatin and carboplatin, as hospitals, especially government-run facilities, run short.
Cancer patients battle shortage of key drugs as platinum costs surge
The prices of the drugs, used to treat ovarian, lung and bladder cancers, are capped and controlled by the government.
The ceiling rate for cisplatin was raised to ₹10.89 ($0.1144) per ml from ₹7.26, while that for carboplatin was increased to ₹90.74 ($0.9530) per ml from ₹60.49 excluding taxes, the notification showed.
“...The authority noted concerns regarding shortage and supply disruptions of carboplatin and cisplatin formulations, which are essential oncology medicines used in the treatment of various cancers,” the NPPA said, adding that their uninterrupted availability is critical for public health.
The drugs are manufactured by several companies, including Cipla, Intas Pharmaceuticals and oncology-focused firms such as Naprod Life Sciences and Venus Remedies.
The increase is a one-time revision and will be reviewed after six months, the NPPA said.
India is heavily dependent on imported platinum, which is used in industries ranging from automobiles and jewellery to chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Supplies of the white metal from key producers such as South Africa have dwindled amid soaring costs, while the West Asia conflict has further disrupted supply chains and raised manufacturing expenses, doctors and industry executives have told Reuters.
The increase on drug price caps offers relief to medicine makers who had temporarily halted production as platinum prices more than doubled amid tight supplies, strong demand and shrinking inventories.