New Delhi: Some 12 key drugs which are used in cancer treatment, may come under price control. National drug price regulator has sought comments on recommendations of Tata Memorial Centre to add 12 drugs in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) while asking for deletion of three drugs.The Tata Memorial Centre had said that there was huge scope for price reduction of these drugs, which are commonly used by those suffering from different kinds of cancer.
Mumbai based comprehensive cancer centre has asked for inclusion of 12 drugs used for treatment of various types of cancers such as bone marrow cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, gastrointestinal cancer and colorectal cancer amo-ng others under the list.It has asked for addition of twelve drugs — All Trans Retinoic Acid (ATRA), Bendamustine, Rituximab, Lenalidomide, Trastuzumab, Capec-itabine, Temozolomide (TMZ), Irinotecan, Erloti-nib, palliative and supportive medicines such as Zole-dronic acid and hormonal therapy drug Megestrol acetate and Letrozole, NPPA said.
The National Pharmac-eutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has been assigned with the task of evaluating the impact of NLEM 2011 in making essential and lifesaving drugs both affordable and available to all and for making necessary recommendations with resp-ect to updating the list.
