Budget 2026-27 exempted customs duty on 17 cancer drugs (including ribociclib, abemaciclib, ibrutinib, ponatinib, darolutamide, ipilimumab, and India's first CAR-T therapy NexCAR19) and added seven rare diseases for duty-free personal imports.
Precedent-setting affordability intervention in oncology. India records over 14 lakh new cancer cases annually; customs duty exemption directly addresses treatment discontinuation driven by out-of-pocket costs.