The central Food and Drugs Association in India is working reduce the price of an advanced cancer detection test to make the test available to the poor patients in the country.

The authority is working to make the optimum cervical cancer screening available at lower prices in the country. Experts say that Cervical cancers are associated with persistent infection with oncogenic human papillomavirus and HPV DNA test can detect presence of oncogenic strains of the virus in cervical cells.

Dr. Surendra Shastri, head of preventive oncology at Tata Memorial Hospital said, "Right now, this test is being offered for Rs. 900. For below poverty line patients, the test is for Rs. 300. But the FDA is working towards bringing down the cost of the test. Soon, it will be available for less than 2 dollars."

The amount of less than 2 dollars indicates that the test might be offered at Rs. 100 in the country. The test will not be able to detect the disease but also show if the woman is likely to get the disease in the future. If the test shows negative predictive value then it is unlikely that the women might get the disease in the figure, according to Dr. Shastri.