Cancer drug prices fall 20-70% on average after 30% trade-margin cap

Cancer patients will pay far less for 120 medicines from 9 November, after companies cut their maximum retail prices by 20% to 70% on average under a new cap on the markup that medicines carry on their way to the shop counter.

On 17 October 2026 the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) capped the trade margin on 137 non-scheduled anti-cancer medicines, including patented ones, at 30% of the maximum retail price (MRP). By 4 November, 70 companies had reported revised MRPs for 120 of those drugs. The biggest cut reported was 96.45%.

The savings

The government estimates the lower prices will save patients ₹3,357.49 crore. That figure is the gap between the old and revised prices, applied to the volume sold from April 2025 to March 2026.

Consumers can check the new prices on the NPPA website and on the official Pharma Sahi Daam mobile app.

What a trade margin is

A trade margin is the difference between the price a manufacturer charges a stockist or distributor and the MRP a patient pays, excluding Goods and Services Tax. When that gap is very large, the final price of an already costly drug rises sharply. The Order sets each medicine's new MRP from its average distributor price of March 2026, with the trade margin no more than 30% and GST added on top. It applies to every dose and form, whether sold alone or in combination.

Why the government acted

The cap responds to concerns raised by State authorities, patients and civil society about the gap between the procurement price and the MRP of anti-cancer drugs. A similar trial in 2019 covered 42 non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs and, the release says, brought down costs for patients.

The legal route

Medicines under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013 fall into two groups. Scheduled medicines, on the National List of Essential Medicines 2022, have a fixed ceiling price; that list names 388 medicines, 63 of them anti-cancer drugs. Non-scheduled medicines are monitored, and a manufacturer may raise the MRP by no more than 10% in twelve months.

For these 137 drugs the NPPA used Paragraph 19 of the Order, which lets the government act in the public interest beyond the usual rules. It did so on the recommendation of an Expert Committee set up under the Directorate General of Health Services.

What happens next

The revised prices apply from 9 November. Only 120 drugs from 70 companies had reported new prices by 4 November, and the release does not say when the remaining medicines will be covered.

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Source: official release by the PIB Backgrounder, issued through the Press Information Bureau, Government of India (06 NOV 2026 2:03PM by PIB Delhi). Read the full official text: Cheaper Cancer Medicines: What the New Margin Cap Means for Patients.