M K Stalin urges Centre to cut taxes on critical drugs

CHENNAI: Chief minister M K Stalin on Tuesday reached out to Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman with a request to exempt lifesaving drugs imported for treatment of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) from customs duty and integrated GST.
In a letter, Stalin said SMA is a rare disease, causing loss of nerve cells, which carry electrical signals from the brain to muscles. For the children affected by it, genetherapy has to be ideally given before the child reaches two years of age. “It is learnt that the gene-therapy for this genetic disorder costs over Rs 16 crore per person. Drugs for this gene-therapy are being imported by the hospitals for treatment. In Tamil Nadu, 90-100 such cases are reported annually,” Stalin said in his letter to the Union Finance minister.
As these drugs are imported, the customs duty and the integrated GST levied on them, further increases the cost of the gene-therapy. Recently, the Union government had waived tax for import of this medicine for a child who was suffering from SMA. “Hence I request you to give necessary instructions to the ministry of finance to take necessary steps to exempt customs duty, Integrated GST and any other taxes on the import of life saving drugs for treatment of SMA as a policy,” Stalin said.