Lower printed prices on 137 cancer drugs apply at every Tamil Nadu pharmacy and hospital counter from 9 November, enforced by the State’s drug inspectors.
A pack of Palbopro, a palbociclib brand used in some breast cancers, carried a maximum retail price of ₹40,421.33. On the revised list it is ₹2,720.
That is the largest of the cuts in the price lists companies have filed with the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) after it capped trade margins on 137 non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs at 30%.
The authority acted on 17 October under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013, and gave the trade until 9 November to move to the new prices. The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers expected maximum retail prices to fall by up to 70%, depending on how each product was priced before.
What changed on the shelf
Trade margin is the gap between what a stockist pays and the MRP printed on the pack, and for many cancer brands that gap was where the money sat. With the cap, companies had to re-print or re-sticker their prices.
| Product (pack) | Old MRP | Revised MRP |
|---|---|---|
| Palbopro, palbociclib 125 mg (21 capsules) | ₹40,421.33 | ₹2,720 |
| Bevacizab, bevacizumab 400 mg (16 ml) | ₹65,205.09 | ₹8,956.75 |
| Abirapro, abiraterone 250 mg (120 tablets) | ₹28,744 | ₹5,768 |
| Armotraz, anastrozole 1 mg (10 tablets) | ₹784.71 | ₹146.78 |
| Keytruda, pembrolizumab 100 mg injection | ₹2,16,500 | ₹2,16,500 |
Source: revised MRP lists reported by companies to NPPA, data up to 28 October 2026
Not everything fell. Keytruda, the immunotherapy injection, stays at ₹2,16,500 for the listed pack, and Tagrisso (osimertinib 80 mg, 30 tablets) at ₹4,16,492.48.
The lists have grown as companies reported. The first had 543 entries; the next, a day later, had 643, each entry being a brand, strength and pack rather than a separate drug. A further list drew on company data received up to 5 November, so a brand missing from one list may turn up on the next. A lower MRP does not always mean the same percentage off a patient’s bill, since many hospitals and pharmacies were already selling some of these brands below the printed price.
Who checks it in Tamil Nadu
The order leaves enforcement to State Drug Controllers. In Tamil Nadu that is the Drugs Control Department, மருந்து கட்டுப்பாட்டுத் துறை (Drugs Control Department), whose listed duties include making sure no drug is sold above the retail price marked on its container. Its inspectors draw samples of drugs and cosmetics and test them at the department’s statutory laboratory, and it monitors the quality and rational use of drugs sold at controlled prices.
Under the NPPA direction, retailers and hospitals must charge the reduced prices from 9 November and display the revised lists. Hospitals must also put the revised prices on their websites. That covers the large private cancer hospitals in Chennai as much as a neighbourhood chemist in Madurai or Coimbatore: the printed revised MRP is the ceiling in all of them.
Patients can check a brand’s current ceiling price on NPPA’s website or its Pharma Sahi Daam mobile app before paying. Where the price charged is higher, the complaint goes to the State drug control authority or to NPPA.
For Context
This is the second round of trade margin capping for cancer drugs. In 2019 NPPA ran a pilot that capped margins at 30% on 42 non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs, after which the MRPs of 526 brands came down by up to 90%. The October 2026 order extends the same method to 137 molecules against 42, and its first full week at pharmacy counters ends on 15 November.
Checked against official sources on 11 November 2026.
