40 life-saving drugs unavailable due to delay in govt’s approval
As many as 40 new life-saving medicines remain unavailable to patients because the federal government has yet to approve their prices, forcing thousands of people suffering from cancer, diabetes, haemophilia, Parkinson’s disease, and other serious illnesses to rely on expensive smuggled or unregistered medicines, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Monday.
The delayed price notifications, they said, have stalled the legal marketing of several critical medicines, including advanced cancer therapies such as Keytruda (Pembrolizumab) and Nivolumab, as well as Humador insulin for diabetes, Adalimumab for autoimmune diseases, recombinant Factor VIII for hemophilia A, Carbidopa-Levodopa for Parkinson’s disease, Dabigatran and Heparin for blood clot prevention, Methyldopa for hypertension during pregnancy, Meropenem and Fosfomycin for severe bacterial infections, Ketamine for anaesthesia and emergency care, as well as several vaccines, intensive care medicines and other essential hospital products.
Although the medicines have been registered by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) after completing the required regulatory process, they cannot be legally marketed until the federal government notifies their maximum retail prices.
According to Drap, recommendations for fixing the prices of these medicines were finalized by the Drug Pricing Committee between December 2024 and June 2025, endorsed by the Drap Policy Board and forwarded to the federal government for final approval, which is still awaited.
The pending list includes several internationally recognized therapies used to treat life-threatening diseases. Besides advanced immunotherapies for cancer, it covers medicines for diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, haemophilia A, Parkinson’s disease, hypertension during pregnancy, severe bacterial infections, and blood-clot prevention, as well as vaccines, radiology contrast agents, electrolyte solutions, and other medicines routinely used in intensive care units and emergency departments.
Reporter: Babar Shehzad Turk