SC questions price gap of cancer drugs:Apex Court claims retailer charged ₹2,700, patient billed ₹27,000; calls it a ‘daylight robbery’

The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed serious concern over the prices of life-saving medicines, particularly cancer drugs. The court questioned the wide gap between the price at which retailers buy the medicines (PTR) and the maximum retail price (MRP). A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said that retailers buy some medicines for around ₹2,700. These are sold to patients at an MRP of ₹27,000. Justice Sandeep Mehta said, “This is daylight robbery of patients.” The bench also questioned the lack of effective control over the prices of such essential medicines. The bench said that the payment of expensive medicines under government healthcare schemes such as Ayushman Bharat also puts a burden on public funds. The matter has been listed for further hearing on 29 September. Petition seeks regulation of medicines and medical devices The hearing was held on a petition seeking mandatory prescriptions for generic medicines. The petition also seeks the fixing of initial prices for non-scheduled medicines and a cap on the prices of medical devices. Petitioner Kishan Chand Jain said that around 82% of medicines fall outside the scheduled category under the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO), 2013. Manufacturers of such medicines are not bound by pre-determined price limits. Price disparities in other medicines as well The bench also referred to price disparities among commonly used medicines. It said that a cholesterol-lowering medicine could be significantly more expensive when sold as a non-scheduled formulation. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, said that the substantial margins reflected in retail prices do not necessarily remain with pharmaceutical companies. He urged the Supreme Court to also examine the prices at which medicines are sold to stockists and retailers. Centre reiterates commitment to affordable medicines Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj said the Centre was committed to making affordable medicines available. He said the government was ready to undertake reforms and also mentioned the Jan Aushadhi scheme. The bench adjourned the hearing. The next hearing will be held on 29 September. ​