Medicines will be cheaperImage credit source: Unsplash
People of the country should continue to get essential medicines at cheap prices. For this, the government controls the prices of medicines. Now the government has provided huge relief to cancer patients just before Diwali. Because of this, the MRP of three of the main drugs used in cancer treatment is going to decrease. The government has also given orders in this regard.
The task of controlling the prices of essential medicines in the country is carried out by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA). Now the NPPA has ordered to reduce the MRP (maximum retail price) of three drugs used in cancer treatment, Trastuzumab, Osimertinib and Durvalumab.
Of these, trastuzumab is used in the treatment of breast cancer, while osimertinib is used in the treatment of lung cancer, and durvalumab is used in the treatment of both types of cancer.
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Commitment to providing medicines at affordable prices
While reducing the prices of these cancer drugs, the government has said it is committed to ensuring that ordinary people continue to get essential medicines at low prices. Therefore, the NPPA has given instructions to reduce the maximum price of medicines. Recently, the rate of GST on these medicines has been reduced, while abolition of customs duty on these medicines was also announced in the Union Budget 2024-25.
Therefore, the government claims that the effect of tax cuts should also be visible in the price of medicines. Therefore, now the government has ordered to reduce its MRP. The Revenue Department of the Ministry of Finance issued a notification on July 23 this year, reducing customs duty on the three medicines to zero.
The new prices came into effect from October 10.
The government has recently reduced the GST rate on these medicines from 12 per cent to 5 per cent. Therefore, companies had to reduce their MRP from October 10, 2024 itself, because their new MRP will be considered effective from that day. Producers have also been ordered to reduce the MRP and inform traffickers, state drug inspectors and the government about the price change.
According to a Lancet study, the number of cancer patients in India has increased to more than 14 lakh. There is an increasing trend every year. They were 13.9 lakh in the year 2020, which increased to 14.2 lakh in 2021, while in 2022 their number reached 14.6 lakh.
