All Cancer Drugs Regulated Under DPCO, 131 Formulations Price-Capped: Govt
New Delhi: The Government has clarified that all oncology medicines are covered under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013 (DPCO, 2013) either through direct price fixation or regulated price increases, the Parliament was informed.
During a recent Rajya Sabha session, MP Smt. Sagarika Ghose raised concerns over the non-inclusion of a significant number of cancer medicines under price control and sought details on anti-cancer drugs allegedly remaining outside the ambit of DPCO, 2013. Responding to the query, the Government outlined the existing regulatory framework governing oncology drug pricing and asserted that no cancer medicine is left completely unregulated.
Replying to an unstarred question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Anupriya Patel said that anti-cancer medicines are included in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) under the therapeutic category “Anti-cancer agents including Immunosuppressives and Medicines used in Palliative Care”, which forms Schedule-I of DPCO, 2013.
She informed the House that the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has so far fixed ceiling prices for 131 scheduled anti-cancer formulations, which are binding on all manufacturers—branded or generic—who are required to sell these medicines within the notified ceiling price, plus applicable Goods and Services Tax.
In addition, Patel said NPPA also fixes retail price of ‘new drug’ as defined under para 2(1)(u) of DPCO, 2013 As on 27.01.2026, NPPA has fixed the retail price of 54 drugs under the Anti-Cancer therapeutic category.
Addressing concerns over oncology medicines that do not fall under the scheduled category, the Minister clarified that prices of non-scheduled anti-cancer formulations are also regulated, with manufacturers barred from increasing the maximum retail price by more than 10% in any 12-month period, as stipulated under Paragraph 20 of DPCO, 2013.
Accordingly, prices of all oncology medicines are covered under DPCO, 2013 either by way of price control by fixation of ceiling / retail price or by regulating the increase of price under para 20 of DPCO, 2013.
