The Supreme Court on September 29 questioned why medicine prices are not uniformly capped at a 16 percent margin under the Drug Price Control Order.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta heard petitions filed by activists Kishan Chand Jain and Sanjay Kulshrestha seeking fair pricing of medicines. The court noted that a cancer drug costing Rs 2,700 at the price to retailer was being sold to patients at Rs 27,000.

The judges described the profiteering as carnage and broad daylight dacoity, observing that the burden ultimately falls on taxpayers through schemes like PMJAY, which funds treatment for poor families.

The court asked the government and drug manufacturers to explain why uniform pricing rules cannot be applied across all medicines. The next hearing will consider responses from the Health Ministry and industry bodies on how prices are fixed for essential drugs.

The court said patients should not be forced to pay inflated prices for life-saving drugs. It asked the government to consider whether the pricing rules need a complete overhaul.