As part of its 100-day action plan, the Kerala government has decided to sell costly cancer drugs through select Karunya pharmacies at 'zero profit' prices.
The cancer drugs will be sold through special counters called 'Karunya Sparsham - Zero Profit Anti-Cancer Drugs' created in Karunya pharmacies run by Kerala Medical Services Corporation mostly within the premises of goverment hospitals. In the first phase, these pharmacies will sell 247 branded oncology medicines at 'zero profit prices'.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the project on August 29. “The objective is to provide costly drugs at the minimum possible cost,” health minister Veena George said. To start with, these medicines will be sold through 14 Karunya pharmacies in the state, one in each district. Pharmacists have also been recruited for the distribution of these medicines though these special counters.

On date, Kerala has 74 Karunya pharmacies. Over 7000 branded medicines are sold through these at discounted rates. Now, cancer drugs are about to be sold through 14 of them without taking any profit.

The most common cancers in Kerala are breast cancer, lip and oral cavity cancer, cervix uteri cancer, lung cancer, and colorectal cancer. The treatment options for cancer include surgery, anti-cancer medicines and radiation therapy. Cancer treatment is carried out in cycles; six, ten or twelve or even more cycles based on the condition and stage. Targeted or immunotherapy drugs are prohibitively prices, up to even five lakh per cycle.

However, health officials say, that the drugs are already sold at high margins by pharma companies. “The margins for pharma companies can be up to even 90%. The lowest would be 40%,” a top Health Department official said. “The government is doing what it can, which is to give up its profit margin. This, at the most, would be some 12-15% when sold through Karunya pharmacies. Even this would be a big relief,” the officer said.