Prices of Cancer and Diabetes Drugs Are Slashed Down by 86%

It is no secret that there has been a consistent growth in the number of cases of diseases like Cancer and Diabetes in India over the last decade.India is already called the Diabetes capital of the world with more than 50 million people already suffering from Type-2 diabetes. Diabetes is a medical condition where the body is unable to adequately process blood sugar levels resulting in too much sugar in the blood. Type 1 Diabetes is where the body's ability to process blood sugar is impaired and Type 2 Diabetes is a condition where the body produces little or no Insulin at all. Insulin is a hormone which moderates the level of blood sugar in the body. According to experts, at the heart of managing these diseases lies awareness and early detection.

In a series of tweets, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority or NPPA on Monday announced just how the authority has come to the rescue of all those spending thousands on treating these chronic diseases. The NPPA - India's drug price regulator - shared that there has been a significant price reduction over the last one year in several Cancer and Diabetic drugs.

The tweets show the earlier and 'revised price' of a lot popular drugs.
 

Significant price reduction in cancer drug prices since Mach 2017 pic.twitter.com/2caRyzfXyT

— NPPAindia (@nppa_india) March 5, 2017

In some cases major Cancer drug prices have been brought down by more than 85% while some Diabetic drugs saw a price revision of 42%

As per the NPPA, the downward price revisions were held for brands across pharma companies Dr Reddy's Lab, Abbot Healthcare, Micro Labs, Dabur India, Lupin and others.

The price of Iressa of Astrazeneca Pharma India, a major cancer drug, now costs Rs 3,977. The earlier price of this drug was Rs 29. This is a price revision of almost 86 per cent, in favour of the end consumer.

Other commonly used cancer drugs like Nanoxel and Frastim have been slashed by 55 per cent and 51 per cent respectively. Diabetic drugs like Glypride by Sun Pharmaceuticals and Glimy by Dr Reddy's have also seen a revision of prices. Both drugs are down from Rs.91 and Rs.84 to Rs.53 and Rs.50 respectively.