Patient groups seek inclusion of new cancer drugs in NLEM

Four years after the last update in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), patient advocacy groups have called for an urgent revision to include certain life-saving medicines, pointing out that the World Health Organization (WHO) has revised its model list twice over the same period.In a letter addressed to Rajiv Bahl, DG Indian Council of Medical Research and chairperson, National Committee on Medicines, the Working group on Access to Medicines and Treatments, has sought the inclusion of certain cancer drugs, monoclonal antibodies and diabetes medicines.The NLEM, compiled by the Ministry of Health, is considered indispensable for meeting India’s public health needs based on their safety, efficacy and cost-effectiveness.

The current list includes 384 medicines, which are dispensed free of cost through public health facilities, and are subject to price control. The list was last revised in September 2022.In contrast, WHO list was revised on two occasions in 2023 and 2025, incorporating significant additions and updates, and includes 523 medicines.The revision is necessary to ensure that it ``reflects the latest evidence, public health priorities, and the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines’’, the letter by the coalition which includes public health experts, lawyers and patient groups, said.

The WHO model list serves as the basis for national medicine policies and helps countries prioritize life saving medicines for wider access. For instance, 17 active cancer-treating agents and four supportive agents for cancer treatment including Bevacizumab, Cladribine, Dasatinib, Erlotinib, Ibrutinib are missing from the NLEM. Similarly, nine monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) including Adalimumab, Ansuvimab, Anti-rabies virus monoclonal antibodies are also absent.

These drugs have been proven critical for targeted therapies in many diseases, especially cancer.``While recognizing the fact that NLEM should be based on the public health priorities of India, bringing many of these critical medicines under NLEM will make sure that these essential medicines are more affordable thereby advancing both constitutional guarantees and India’s global commitments to health equity’’, Chetali Rao, legal advisor at Third World Network (TWN), told TOI.The prolonged delay in revising the national list has denied millions of citizens free access to newly recognized essential medicines within the public health system, while also restricting affordable access in the private sector, KM Gopa Kumar at TWN said.