Karnataka calls for price controls on costly heart and kidney medicines

Karnataka has asked India's Union government to extend proposed cancer-drug price controls to other expensive, life-saving medicines, including treatments for heart and kidney diseases.

Health Minister U.T. Khader welcomed the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority's in-principle approval for a 30% trade-margin cap on selected non-scheduled anti-cancer medicines. Speaking in Bengaluru, he called for prompt implementation and said patients should directly benefit from lower prices.

The NPPA decision at its October 8 meeting concerns medicines identified under Paragraph 19 of the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013. The list remains to be finalised. An expert committee under the Directorate General of Health Services is expected to recommend which medicines to include by October 14.

According to The Hindu, the Centre estimates that the proposal could lower maximum retail prices by 20% to 70% and save patients about ₹2,500 crore. These are projected benefits of the proposed measure.

Karnataka had written to Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda on September 23 after state inspections identified substantial gaps between procurement costs and patient charges. Its pricing concerns covered 253 medicines and consumables.

The state sought controls on advanced chemotherapy and targeted treatments, stronger enforcement against excessive charges, a national study of medicine prices and an expert panel bringing together governments, hospitals, insurers and medical specialists.

A separate October 1 circular advises healthcare institutions to show both purchase or landing costs and maximum retail prices in patient bills from November 1. Karnataka also cited Supreme Court questions about extending to essential medicines the scheduled-drug rule allowing prices 16% above the price to retailers.