Centre Approves Price Hike For Life-Saving Cancer Drugs After Nationwide Shortage
New Delhi: Devastating several families grappled with cancer patients, the Union Government on Wednesday approved the price hike for cisplatin and carboplatin, two foundational chemotherapy drugs used to treat cancer.
The decision follows acute nationwide shortage for the cancer treating drug. The shortage had severely disrupted treatment schedules at India’s premier oncology centers, including at AIIMS Delhi and the Tata Memorial Centre.
The shortage are forcing dangerous therapy delays and suboptimal drug substitutions, which lead to affect patient survival rates and also increase the risk of cancer recurrence.
Why The Cancer Drug Shortage?
The reason for the shortage of critical drugs for treating cancer is the global surge in the price of raw raw platinum, the basic component used to make the drugs’ Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs).
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There has been a 225 per cent spike in raw platinum costs over recent years, with a staggering 100 % jump in just the last six months, according to the pharmaceutical industry.
