Duty on 69 drugs to be scrapped

The ministry of chemicals and petrochemicals will soon send an extended list of 69 anti-cancer and anti-AIDS drugs, to be exempted from all central levies, to the finance ministry.

In the first part of a draft pharmaceutical policy, 42 anti-cancer and anti-AIDS drugs were set aside. These drugs were specified in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), according to a ministry official.

"The anti-AIDS drugs may be doubled in the new list to 24 and the anti-cancer drugs to about 45 or so," the official said.

Currently, there are 30 anti-cancer and 12 anti-AIDS drugs in the NLEM.

The list has been revised after recommendations from National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) for HIV/AIDS medicines, and by AIIMS and Cancer Control Society.

The list only contains first-generation drugs and there is a need to include newer molecules that have now come up in the market.

"The list has been revised keeping in mind the second-generation drugs. Their inclusion is important as some patients have developed resistance to first-generation drugs," explained the official. The drugs have been specified according to their chemical or generic names and carry no brand names.

In the first part of the draft policy released two weeks ago, the ministry of chemicals and petrochemicals had proposed to free these drugs from all central levies and ask states to do the same.

Even the industry and trade will be asked to reduce their margins as much as possible to pass on the benefits to consumers.

The draft also aims at encouraging manufacturing of second-generation drugs at "negotiated prices" in case they are not produced in India.