India's essential medicine list lags behind global benchmark; unrevised in 4 years
A civil society network, the Working Group on Access to Medicines and Treatments, has urged the government to revise India's National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), which has not been updated in nearly four years. In contrast, the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines has been revised twice in the same period (2023 and 2025) and now contains 523 drugs, significantly more than NLEM's 384. The NLEM, last overhauled in 2022, lacks several active cancer-treating agents, supportive cancer-care medicines, and monoclonal antibodies present on the WHO list, impacting affordable healthcare access.
Key Points
- India's National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) has not been updated for nearly four years, lagging behind the WHO's revised list.
- The NLEM, last notified in 2022, contains 384 medicines, while the WHO list, revised in 2023 and 2025, has 523 drugs.
- The civil society group highlights that NLEM misses critical cancer-treating agents and other medicines found on the WHO list.
- The NLEM is crucial for ensuring essential drugs are available at affordable prices and for price ceiling enforcement by the NPPA.
Exam Facts
- National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) last notified in 2022.
- NLEM currently contains 384 medicines.
- WHO Model List of Essential Medicines revised in 2023 and 2025, contains 523 medicines.
- The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) uses NLEM to enforce price ceilings.
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