Govt approves prices for 52 advanced life-saving drugs

Business Recorder reported that a Cabinet Committee has set prices for 52 new molecules covering treatments for cancer, hypertension, diabetes and respiratory diseases, and vaccines against infections. Drug makers cannot begin manufacturing or importing these medicines until the official notification is issued, a process that could take one to two months. With this step, the number of essential medicines priced over the past four months has reached 87, following 35 medicines notified in April 2026.

Industry officials said regulated pricing should improve supply of high-priority therapies that had been hard to obtain during long delays in price fixation. Former PPMA chairman Tauqeer Ul Haq added that patients would benefit most and that the notification would also allow exports to other countries. Aurangzeb, who chaired the committee, stressed transparent, evidence-based pricing that balances patient access with supply sustainability and affordability.

Authority to set, review and revise essential medicine prices remains with the government. Non-essential medicine prices have been left to manufacturers since February 2024, a shift the PPMA said has improved availability and curbed the black market. Federal Minister for National Health Services Syed Mustafa Kamal said last month that Pakistan was close to WHO Level 3 certification, which would help local drugmakers expand exports.