Price crash ahead? Key diabetes, cancer drugs to go off-patent in India

The development is likely to trigger launch of generic versions by Indian drug majors; this would be a great relief to patients as prices might come down by 25% or so

The next three to five years would see some key cardiovascular, diabetic and oncology molecules going off-patent in the Indian market. This could trigger launches of generic versions by local players and, thereby, a major drop in their prices. Experts expect the sharpest price drop in the oncology space. For the rest, pricing would depend on the number of players who get approvals after the patent expiry. 

Overall, the prices of these molecules could drop by 20-25 per cent. 

As such, only 5 per cent of the medicines used in India are patent-protected. In terms of market size, it is not big