PLI boost: Cancer drugs to cost less

Cancer patients facing prohibitive treatment costs in India can hope for relief.

- Priyanka Sharma

The nation's top drugmakers have started manufacturing key medicines for such diseases in the country.

India's largest drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and its peers Cipla Ltd, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Cadila Healthcare Ltd and Biocon Ltd are making cancer drugs under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, according to information shared by the department of pharmaceuticals with Mint. They are among the 55 companies selected for incentives to produce 175 high-value medicines in India.

At present, most cancer drugs are imported, making them prohibitively expensive. That's when India's cancer burden is expected to rise from 26.7 million life years or DALYS―the sum of healthy life lost to a disease-in 2021 to 29.8 million in 2025, according to data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The PLI scheme is a "great boon" as cancer drugs will not only become cheaper in India, but South American and southern African nations will also benefit, said Shyam Aggarwal, chairperson, medical oncology department at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi.