It is being claimed by local medicine makers that the production of cancer medicines like carboplatin, oxaliplatin and cisplatin is no longer profitable. The reason for this is the huge increase in the prices of platinum, which is an essential part of these medicines. They have approached the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority and demanded that the maximum price of these medicines be increased by 50 percent at which they can be sold to patients. Currently the maximum price of Carboplatin is Rs 61.10 per 10 mg/ml vial. For Cisplatin, it ranges between Rs 70 to Rs 300 depending on the strength of the medicine. Cipla, Intas, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Zydus Lifesciences, Emcure, Fresenius and Hetero are among the dozens of local companies manufacturing these medicines.
Platinum prices doubled
An industry executive was quoted by ET as saying that if the government does not intervene and take necessary steps in the public interest, it could pose a threat to our profits and the availability of an essential ‘first-line’ cancer treatment. In the last six months, platinum prices have almost doubled due to geopolitical uncertainty. There has been a similar increase in the prices of other precious metals like gold and silver. The price, which was Rs 3,869 per gram last September, increased to Rs 8,000 per gram in February. The executive said that although prices now appear to be stabilizing, they are still historically high. He said that the current maximum price of carboplatin had become no longer economically beneficial in January itself.
price creating problem
Max Oncology Vice Chairman Pramod Kumar Julka said in a media report that this group of platinum drugs is the backbone of the treatment of many types of cancer including head and neck, breast and gastrointestinal cancer. He said that platinum drugs like cisplatin and carboplatin are among the cheapest and easiest to obtain chemotherapy drugs available. But another industry executive said that now their low prices are creating problems. Therefore, while platinum drugs are much cheaper than ADCs (antibody-drug conjugates) or immunotherapy, their low prices mean that manufacturers have little economic incentive to produce them consistently, creating a dangerous paradox, he said. Therefore, government intervention is very important. Platinum-based medicines have been under government control since 2013. According to industry experts, the price of carboplatin has increased by only 21.71 percent since 2015.
110 crore market
Carboplatin is fundamentally important in the cancer treatment protocols notified by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). It is recognized as an essential medicine globally. This medicine is listed in the ‘National Formulary of India, 2021’ and is indicated for the treatment of advanced stages of ovarian cancer and some types of lung cancer. According to the data of market research agency ‘Pharmatrack’, the market of platinum-based medicines is worth Rs 110 crore, which is growing at the rate of 14 percent per year. Sheetal Sapale, vice-president of Pharmatrack, said that retail sales do not fully reflect the size of the market for these medicines, as a large part of it is indicated in institutional sales or sales made directly to hospitals.
NITI Aayog had recommended in 2019
An industry official said that considering the increase in cancer cases, the market size of ‘platinum’ drugs could be at least ten times more. In 2019, the ‘Affordable Medicines and Health Products Committee’ of NITI Aayog had supported a one-time increase of 50 per cent in the ceiling prices of those essential medicines whose manufacturing was facing the problem of not being economically viable.