Importing a Cancer Drug — Not Available in India

Yes. CDSCO rules allow personal import of prescription medicines that are not approved or not available in India, provided you have a valid prescription from a registered doctor and the quantity is for personal use only. You cannot import and resell it, and certain drug categories have additional restrictions. Most families use a licensed customs broker or facilitator for their first import to make sure the paperwork is correct and complete.

From starting the CDSCO application to receiving the drug, the process commonly takes four to eight weeks for a first shipment. Delays happen most often when documents are incomplete or when a drug requires additional regulatory scrutiny. Once the route is established, subsequent shipments are faster. A Named Patient Program from the manufacturer, where one exists, may move faster because the company has already done this process for its own drug.

A Named Patient Program is a route by which a pharmaceutical company supplies its drug — often at no cost — to individual patients in countries where the drug is not yet approved. It operates under CDSCO special import provisions, with the company handling much of the regulatory process. Ask your oncologist or hospital oncology counsellor to check: they usually have access to manufacturer medical affairs contacts that are not publicly listed. Most large oncology companies have these programs for their major drugs.

Most standard health insurance policies in India cover drugs administered during an inpatient hospital stay, not medicines you source and import yourself. Some policies include outpatient medicine riders, but coverage for imported or unlicensed drugs is usually excluded or requires prior approval. Check your policy's exclusion clauses directly. Ask your insurer to confirm in writing what is and is not covered before you commit to the import cost — verbal assurances from a call centre are not sufficient.

Yes, and this is the recommended route. Oncology counsellors and social workers at cancer centres know which manufacturer programs are currently active, what each requires, and how to submit a strong application. Families who apply through their counsellor succeed more often than those who approach programs directly, because the forms and eligibility criteria differ by company and change without public notice. At CION, ask the oncology care team to check which programs apply to your treatment before arranging a commercial import.

If a version of the drug — the originator brand or an approved generic — is already sold in India, CDSCO is unlikely to approve a personal import application, and import is generally not the right route. Ask your oncologist whether the Indian version is therapeutically equivalent for your situation. In many cases it is, which avoids the cost, delay and regulatory complexity of importing. If there is a clinical reason to prefer the overseas version, that reason must be documented clearly in your prescription.