With the Supreme Court questioning why a 30 per cent cap on trade margins for cancer medicines cannot be extended to other essential drugs, health activists and consumer activists in the city have welcomed the move.

During a hearing on Monday, the apex court asked the Director General of Health Services (DGHS) to examine which other medicines could be brought under the proposed cap and directed the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) to explore how the measure could be implemented for the drugs identified.