Cancer Medicines Price: Despite many efforts, the treatment of a life-threatening disease like cancer is not getting cheaper. The government is also constantly trying to reduce the cost of its treatment.
Now the government has asked the pharmaceutical companies to reduce the price of three medicines used in the treatment of cancer. The benefit of customs duty exemption and reduction in GST can be passed on to the customers. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has issued a notification and directed the concerned drug manufacturers to reduce the MRP of three anti-cancer drugs – trastuzumab, osimertinib and durvalumab.
The announcement made in the general budget will be followed
The government has taken this step in line with its commitment to ensure the availability of life-saving medicines at affordable prices. A statement issued by the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers said that this step complies with the announcement made in the General Budget for the financial year 2024-25. In the budget, it was announced to exempt three anti-cancer drugs from import duty. The Revenue Department of the Finance Ministry had issued a notification on July 23 this year and made the customs duty on all three medicines zero.
MRP of medicines should be reduced
The ministry said, ‘MRP of these medicines should be reduced in the market and the benefit of reduction in tax and duty should reach the customers. Keeping this in mind, NPPA has directed the manufacturers of all the above medicines to reduce their MRP.’ The ministry said that the drug manufacturers will have to provide a price list or supplementary price list of these three medicines to the distributors, state drug controllers and the government, which mentions the changed price.
Companies will have to inform NPPA about the price change. While presenting the budget for 2024-25 in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had proposed to reduce the customs duty on trastuzumab, osimertinib and durvalumab from 10 percent to zero.
Related Articles:-
DA Increased: Govt employees Diwali gift, DA increased by 4% in another state, Check Details
