Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Nov 7: The government's decision to cap trade margins on 137 non-scheduled anti-cancer medicines has prompted 70 pharmaceutical companies to reduce the maximum retail prices (MRPs) of 120 medicines by an average of 20 to 70 per cent, resulting in estimated savings of Rs 3,357.49 crore for patients, according to an official factsheet released on Friday.

The government said price revisions for 120 medicines had been completed as of November 4, with the steepest reduction reaching 96.45 per cent. The revised prices will come into effect from November 9.

The move aims to curb excessive mark-ups across the pharmaceutical supply chain, including distributors, retail pharmacies and hospital pharmacies, and make cancer treatment more affordable across the country.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), on October 17, capped the trade margin on these medicines, including patented drugs, at 30 per cent of their maximum retail price. The measure is intended to address excessive mark-ups by distributors, retailers and hospital pharmacies.

The estimated savings of Rs 3,357.49 crore have been calculated by comparing the original and revised prices and applying the difference to the sales volume recorded between April 2025 and March 2026.

The trade margin cap follows concerns raised by state authorities, patients and civil society organisations over the substantial gap between the procurement prices and maximum retail prices of anti-cancer medicines.

Consumers can verify the revised prices through the NPPA website and the official Pharma Sahi Daam mobile application. The new prices have been calculated based on distributor prices prevailing in March 2026.

Manufacturers are required to recalculate the maximum retail prices using their average distributor prices for March 2026. Medicines provided free of cost under patient assistance programmes and direct government sales have been excluded from the calculation.

The NPPA has uploaded the revised prices on its website, with the list being updated as and when pharmaceutical companies submit their revised price details.

Trade margin refers to the difference between the price charged by a manufacturer to a stockist or distributor and the maximum retail price paid by a patient, excluding Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The government had earlier introduced a Trade Margin Rationalisation (TMR) intervention in 2019, covering 42 non-scheduled anti-cancer medicines. The initiative helped bring down treatment costs by addressing excessive pricing of medicines beyond those covered under the scheduled essential drugs category.

The NPPA has directed pharmaceutical companies to communicate their revised prices to the authority. They must also publish details of the price reductions in newspapers, display them on their official websites and circulate the revised prices among retailers and hospitals.