New Delhi: A Parliamentary Committee recommended that the price cap applicable by the government, for example, should be extended to cover the existing 30% business margin cap – cancer vaccines, immunotherapy and oral chemotherapy on 42 essential anti -cancer drugs. It has also been suggested that the quality of generic drugs available in the market should be monitored, they can be determined by citing hesitation among medical professionals.According to the committee, under the chairmanship of Narayan Das Gupta, although the government has taken significant steps towards strengthening the regulatory structure to control the pricing of cancer drugs and to promote power, a sufficient section of such drugs remain beyond the scope of the current price control mechanism. The committee has not included a significant number of oncology drugs under Drugs (Price Control) Order, 2013, “The number of anti-cancer drugs under price control has increased from 40 (in 2011) to 63 (in 2022), and thus not subject to any statutory value limit,” it is said that this regulator is non-included. The committee has recommended the petitions, “In view of this, the committee strongly recommends that the government has taken necessary measures to expand the scope of the DPCO.”
