Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently presented the budget in Parliament. In this, it has been announced to waive custom duty on three cancer medicines. But the pharma industry says that only one multinational company will benefit from this.
Shares increased on BSE
In the recently presented budget, exemption in custom duty on three cancer medicines was announced. But industry experts say that only multinational company AstraZeneca will benefit from this. They say that this discount is not applicable to the entire category or class of cancer drugs and it will result in a nominal profit of Rs 18,000 on an average on each vial/strip. Shares of AstraZeneca Pharma India have gained more than 13% on BSE in the last two days.However, today it is seeing a decline of more than one percent in early trade. At 10.15 am it is trading at 6977.25 points with a decline of 1.40%.
Drugs exempted from custom duty
Pharma industry, patient group and domestic pharma companies like Biocon have demanded removal of GST on medicines used in the treatment of cancer and rare diseases. They argue that this will help patients and the healthcare system more effectively.An MNC company official said custom duty exemption should be extended to all imported medicines for all cancers and rare diseases. It should not be limited to just one category. Three cancer drugs Trastuzumab Deruxtecan, Osimertinib and Durvalumab have been exempted from 10% customs duty in the budget. Trastuzumab Deruxtecan is a breast cancer drug, Osimertinib is a lung cancer drug and Durvalumab is used in the treatment of lung and bile duct cancer.
Double kill
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairperson of Biocon and Biocon Biologics, said the removal of customs duty on three cancer drugs will provide relief to cancer patients. However, the government should consider GST exemption for all cancer drugs to make cancer treatment more affordable for patients. Currently, patients are facing a double whammy with customs duty of 10% and GST of 12%.Due to this the prices of imported medicines are increasing significantly. A representative of FICCI said that we will again request the government to waive customs duty on all medicines for cancer and rare diseases and reduce GST on medicines.