NPPA Caps Trade Margins on 137 Cancer Drugs: Cheaper Treatment from 9 November

In news

• The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has capped trade margins at 30% on 137 non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs.
• New prices apply from 9 November 2026.
• Retail prices of some brands may fall by up to 70%.

Key facts

Item	Detail
Legal power	Paragraph 19 of the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013: special powers in public interest
Method	Trade Margin Rationalisation: caps the gap between the price at the first point of sale and the MRP
Drugs covered	137 cancer medicines chosen by an expert committee
Price check	NPPA website and the Pharma Sahi Daam app
Enforcement	State drug controllers

• Companies must keep up production and supply to avoid shortages.
• Hospitals and pharmacies must charge and display the new prices.

What is a trade margin?

• It is the difference between the price at which a company first sells a drug and the MRP paid by the patient.
• In some cancer drugs, margins were far above 100%. Most of the price went to distributors, retailers and hospitals, not to the drug itself.

Why it matters

• Cancer treatment is a leading cause of catastrophic health spending in India.
• Families often sell assets or take loans for treatment.
• Lower margins mean the same medicine at a lower price, with no loss of quality.

Earlier step

• In 2019, NPPA capped trade margins on 42 cancer drugs at 30%. Prices of over 500 brands fell, some by up to 90%.

Limits of price caps

• High costs of diagnosis, hospital stay and tests remain.
• Hospitals may shift costs to other services.
• Patented new-generation drugs are still very costly.

Static connect

• NPPA: set up in 1997; under the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers.
• Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013: issued under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.
• National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM): prices of these "scheduled" drugs are directly controlled.
• Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY: health cover of ₹5 lakh per family per year.
• Article 47 (DPSP): duty of the State to improve public health.

Exam relevance: UPSC Prelims and GS-2 (Health); TGPSC, APPSC (Schemes, Polity).