The union ministry of chemicals and fertilizers may soon identify the list of combination therapies used for the treatment and management of cancer that are to be brought under price control.

The combinations that are to come under the ministry's scanner would be short-listed from the suggestive list forwarded by cancer research hospitals like AIIMS and Regional Cancer Research Centres. The drugs identified by the institutes include Gemecitabine, Paclitaxel, Docetaxel, Leuprolide, Oxaliplatin, Irinotecan, Capecitabine ritaximab, Trastuzumab, Imatinib mesalate, Caleyx Inj, Tomozolamide capsule, Fludarabin etc.

The institutes had suggested that the criteria for bringing anti-cancer drugs under price control should be based on cost per cycle rather than cost per day. This is because most of anti cancer drugs are administered on cyclical basis. Similarly, the drugs recommended for cancer are usually administered in combination with other drugs.

The ministry had earlier suggested categorization of these drugs into frequently required but less expensive and not frequently required but quite expensive ones to identify the ones that needs to be brought under price control. There was also an attempt to categorize the drugs on the basis of incidence of the type of cancer and drugs required for the treatment. The categorization was expected to provide a clear view on the magnitude of the problem.

The ministry has received several suggestions, which includes giving the distribution responsibility for selected anti-cancer drugs to accredited hospital pharmacies and to increase the supply of anti-cancer drugs through public healthcare system. Managing the prices of imported drugs without causing any shortage in its supply, is another headache before the ministry.

The ministry move is based on the growing complaints from various sections of the society including parliamentarians on the availability and affordability of anti-cancer medicines. In general, the incidence of cancer is on the rise and chemotherapy is becoming costlier with the advent of newer molecules. It is known that the cost of chemotherapy alone in many a case is coming to 70 – 90 % of the total treatment cost.