Event: Indian

The Indian government has moved to reduce the price of cancer drugs after a retired bank clerk took her case to the supreme court.From next month, 137 cancer drugs in India will be cheaper as the government tries to tackle the tragedy of poorer patients either forgoing treatment, selling land or falling into debt to meet the high cost of some medicines, which are making large profits for hospitals and pharmacists.Sarojam Radhakrishnan, a former bank employee in Kerala, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021. Doctors prescribed life-saving targeted treatments but the monthly cost, of more than 63,000 rupees (£500), was far beyond her family’s means.Realising that thousands of families were being ruined by the cost of such drugs, Radhakrishnan filed a petition to the Kerala high court in 2022 demanding government intervention to lower the costs.When the case reached the supreme court, the judges looked at hospitals’ and retailers’ mark-ups on cancer drugs and called the situation “carnage” and “extortion”.During a hearing on 29 September, justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta noted how a life-saving cancer drug supplied to hospitals at 2,700 rupees carried a vastly marked-up price of 27,000 rupees.Sarojam Radhakrishan initiated the court action after being unable to pay for her cancer drugs. Photograph: FacebookThe judges found that hospitals, distributors and chemists enjoyed large margins on medicines. Analysis by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority revealed a trade mark-up on some cancer drugs averaging 170%, with some extreme examples stretching to more than 700%.A 30% trade margin cap on the price of 42 drugs has been in place for some years but many others remained off this list. Now, prodded by the supreme court’s findings, the government has imposed the cap on 137 other drugs.“The measure is expected to reduce medicine prices by up to 70% and help…