The Cost of Cancer Therapy in India

A new cancer drug, promising fewer side effects and better outcomes, is now a ray of hope for cancer patients in India. However, this hope comes at a high price. The cost of drugs curing cancer is too high to access and afford by normal people.

Making Affordable Cancer Treatment in India:

• In her Budget 2024-25 speech, the finance minister announced customs duty (which was earlier ~10%) exemptions on 3 targeted cancer drugs - trastuzumab deruxtecan, osimertinib, and durvalumab.
• The decision is likely to make these drugs more accessible to Indian patients and reduce the overall cost of cancer therapies.

About Cancer:

• It is a complex and broad term used to describea group of diseases characterized by the uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells in the body.
  • These abnormal cells, known as cancer cells,could invade and destroy healthy tissues and organs.
• In a healthy body, cells grow, divide, and die in a regulated manner, allowing for the normal functioning of tissues and organs.
  • However, in the case of cancer, certain genetic mutations or abnormalities disrupt this normal cell cycle,causing cells to divide and grow uncontrollably.

Cancer profile in India:

• The number of cancer cases in India is on the rise. According to the National Cancer Registry data,
  • An estimated 6 lakh new cancer cases were detected in 2022, up from 14.2 lakh in 2021 and 13.9 lakh in 2020.
  • The number of deathsdue to cancer increased to an estimated 08 lakh in 2022, up from 7.9 lakh in 2021 and 7.7 lakh in 2020.
• The incidence of cancer cases in India:
  • According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 1 in 9 Indians will develop cancer during their lifetime.
  • The incidence is higher among women- 103.6 per 100,000 population in 2020 compared to 94.1 among men.
  • The most common cancersamong men were of the lung, mouth, prostate, tongue and stomach; for women, they were breast, cervix, ovary, uterus and lung.

Regulation of Prices of these Cancer Drugs in India:

• Trastuzumab Injection is a scheduled drug under the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) 2022 and the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has fixed the ceiling price (Rs. 54725.21 per vial) of the same.
• The other two medicines i.e., Osimertinib and Durvalumab are non-scheduled medicines under Drug Prices Control Order (DPCO), 2013.
• Hence, NPPA monitors the maximum retail price (MRP) of the non-scheduled formulation to ensure that the same does not increase by more than 10% of MRP during the preceding 12 months.