Confidentiality pricing push for cancer meds’ accessibility

Panaji: The health department is seeking the cabinet’s approval to implement confidentiality pricing to make life-saving drugs accessible to people suffering from cancer and other critical diseases in the state, health minister Vishwajit Rane said on Friday.
Rane said that under the current tender-based procurement system, the state faces challenges in acquiring innovative, rare, or anti-cancer treatments in sufficient volumes for patients. This difficulty arises from companies’ reluctance to offer their drugs at reduced costs under the current pricing schemes, as the rates are publicly available.
This reluctance stems from concerns surrounding international reference pricing, under which prices in countries referencing India tend to be higher.
As a solution, Rane is seeking to introduce a confidential pricing scheme for companies eligible under specific criteria.
He said that four to five multinational companies are on board and added that confidentiality pricing is a globally accepted norm. “There are new treatment protocols available, and that’s why we need confidentiality pricing,” he said.
On another front, govt has extended its MoU with AstraZeneca for AI-enabled lung cancer screening in Goa to help early detection and intervention in lung cancer cases. Over 33,800 chest X-rays have been taken across 17 health centres using advanced AI technology and 143 cases were classified as high risk. One case of lung cancer was detected, Rane said.
The AI-enabled early lung cancer detection programme was launched in June 2024. The case of lung cancer was detected through a closed-loop pathway involving a chest physician’s review, CT scan confirmation, and biopsy.
“We want to work towards reducing cancer-related deaths in Goa by early detection and prevention; hence we are holding mega medical camps across the state and running the Cancer Detection Abhiyan,” Rane said.
One of the key highlights of the programme has been the deployment of Nurse Navigators (healthcare professionals), who provide consistent support and guidance to high-risk patients, ensuring end-to-end follow-up from screening, he said.