Karnataka health minister flags high markups on critical care drugs

Karnataka Health Minister U.T. Khader wrote to Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda pointing out that advanced medicines for cancer, kidney ailments, and AIDS are sold at up to 70 times procurement cost.

The letter noted that while MRP rules prevent overpricing, they fail to address massive wholesale purchase discounts and inflated MRPs retaining high hospital margins.

Khader requested a national comparative study on medicine prices and proposed capping patient-facing prices at net acquisition costs plus reasonable service margins.