German drug major Bayer AG has challenged the Intellectual Property Appellate Board’s (IPAB’s) order of compulsory licence issued to domestic pharmaceutical company Natco Pharma in the Bombay High Court and has sought the court’s intervention to protect its rights over patented cancer drug Nexavar.
The division bench comprising Justice SJ Vazifdar and Justice KR Sriram adjourned the hearing to October 29. Earlier in March 2013, IPAB directed the Hyderabad-based Natco Pharma (NPL) to continue the manufacture and sale of the generic version of Nexavar, Bayer’s kidney cancer drug.
In March last year, Natco Pharma was granted first ever compulsory licence to sell the cancer drug at Rs 8,800 for a month’s therapy, and pay 7% royalty to Bayer on the sales. This was challenged by the German pharma company. Bayer’s same anticancer drug is priced at Rs 2.8 lakh a month.
Apart from Bayer, another European pharma major, Novartis also had to face the blow when the Supreme Court rejected the company’s plea regarding patent application for Swiss company’s anticancer drug Glivec in April 2013.
“The court does not decide for, or against, a company. It takes a decision based solely on public interest,” said Justice Prabha Sridevan, chairman of IPAB, while passing an order in March. “The price of a drug should be seen from the point of view of the public affordability and not on the based on R&D expenses.”
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-10-12/news/42968576_1_natco-pharma-nexavar-compulsory-licence
