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Regulator moves in to cut the sting in cancer-drug prices; industry picks holes in ‘flawed’ formula

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Synopsis

The government feels the pharmaceutical industry is charging exorbitant prices for anti-cancer drugs. But the solution it has proposed — to cut high trade margins — has drawn flak from the industry. Drug makers argue that even medicines supplied free under patient-assistance programmes have been brought under the ambit of the margin cuts. Mired in legal wrangles, no headway is in sight.

The emperor of maladies begets a kingdom of paupers. When cancer takes its toll, it’s not just the dead that are buried. The patient may pass away, but the treatment often leaves a financially drained family in its wake. At times, a single dose of an anti-cancer drug may cost over one lakh rupees. Not to mention the hospital expenses. This brings up a critical question: Why are these drugs so expensive and what is being done to fix and regulate

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