The Indian government has withdrawn customs duty exemption on 75+ life-saving drugs, and these include coagulation factors used in the treatment of hemophilia.

Hemophilia is already one of the most expensive disorders to deal with, and the patients in India have an incredibly hard time coping up with the costs. Many state governments have hemophilia daycare centers with "free factor" schemes in place, where factors are made available to the patients in events of hemorrhages, and this enables patients to support themselves in part. In part, because there is often a shortage of factors at these centers, and one still has fend for themselves for the most part.

The removal of customs duty exemption will lead to a steep increase in the already colossal costs, and will negatively impact both the state government programs and hemophilics' ability to purchase factors on their own. This will destory lives of many hemophilics and their families.

The government officials say that the move is intended "to provide protection to the domestic manufacturing industry and enhance the attractiveness of make in India initiative". Unfortunately, there are no viable local alternatives available for hemophilia today, and not having access to adequate amount of factors can lead to episodes of excruciating pain, deformation, and even death.

We urge the government to revisit the decision made by the department of revenue, and reinstate customs duty exemptions on anti-hemophilic factors. We also urge them to provide incentives to Indian pharma companies to manufacture these products as per the World Hemophilia Federation guidelines.