NEW DELHI — Cancer patients spending heavily on treatment have found little financial respite in the latest pricing revision notified by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority. The drug price regulator has issued a revised maximum retail price list covering 643 cancer drug packs, but left the rates of 159 packs completely unchanged. A large proportion of these untouched medicines belong to the premium price tier costing more than ₹1 lakh per pack. Out of 51 packs identified above the ₹1 lakh mark, the regulator reduced prices for merely three formulations, leaving the remaining 48 to be sold at their earlier elevated costs. Meanwhile, the steepest price reductions, ranging from 50 to 95 percent across 275 packs, applied exclusively to medicines already priced below ₹1 lakh.
Most Expensive Formulations Remain Unaffected by Price Revisions
The pricing data confirms that patients dependent on ultra-high-cost therapies will continue to bear an intense financial load. The most expensive product on the revised schedule, Selumetinib marketed under the brand name Koselugo, registered no reduction at all. The pack containing 60 capsules of 25 mg continues to retail at its previous MRP of ₹10,21,992.
A similar lack of revision extends across other critical specialty therapies. The price of Gilteritinib under the brand Xospata has been held steady at ₹8,31,600. In addition, the 60-tablet pack of Ivosidenib, sold under the brand name Tibsovo, remains fixed at its earlier rate of ₹6,57,720. Because targeted cancer therapies require sustained administration over multiple cycles, families facing these specific regimens must continue to absorb bills running into several lakhs of rupees for each individual pack.
Steepest MRP Cuts Confined Exclusively to Lower-Priced Packs
An overview of the 643 packs reviewed by the pricing authority indicates that major discounts were concentrated entirely in the comparatively affordable categories. The regulator slashed retail prices by 50 to 95 percent for 275 packs, yet not a single pack priced above ₹1 lakh qualified for this degree of relief.
For other categories on the schedule, 164 packs saw price reductions of less than 50 percent down to 10 percent. A smaller group of 45 drug packs received marginal cuts of under 10 percent. Alongside these revisions, 159 packs saw no reduction in their maximum retail price whatsoever. The resulting distribution shows that while lower-cost therapies achieved significant percentage relief, the most severe out-of-pocket costs remain broadly unaddressed.
Only Three High-Cost Medicines Register Price Reductions
Among the 51 cancer drug packs carrying baseline retail costs above ₹1 lakh, price relief was granted to only three items, with two seeing only slight modifications. The 250 mg pack of Crizotinib, sold under the brand name Xalkori with 60 capsules, was reduced from ₹1,17,251.92 to ₹1,09,500. The 200 mg variant of the same medicine saw its price drop from ₹1,10,529.60 to ₹1,03,220. Both formulations experienced an identical reduction of roughly 6.6 percent, leaving both products priced well above the ₹1 lakh threshold.
The only substantial drop among high-priced therapies occurred with Toripalimab injection sold under the brand name Zytorvi. The rate for a single 240 mg vial was trimmed by approximately 23 percent, falling from ₹1,17,187.50 to ₹90,241.10. It remains the sole medication among the 51 high-cost formulations to drop below ₹1 lakh under the NPPA order. For the remaining 48 premium drug packs, however, patients must continue to manage costs that run into multiple lakhs of rupees without regulatory adjustment.
