E-DRUG: MSF responds to Indian Supreme Court decision re production of affordable cancer drug
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On 12 December the Indian Supreme Court rejected Bayer's appeal to block
production and sales of a lower-cost version of its exorbitantly expensive
cancer medication, sorafenib tosylate (marketed as Nexavar).
Since 2012, the Indian generic company Natco has been allowed to produce an
affordable generic version of Bayer's cancer drug, which at US$5,500 per
person, per month in India, was deemed unaffordable by the Indian Patent
Office. At that time, the Indian Patent Office granted Natco the
country's first-ever compulsory license (CL) as a way to make the medicine
more accessible: the move was effective in bringing down the price by 97%
to $175 per person, per month, in exchange for which Natco pays Bayer a
royalty fee. Bayer has been appealing the decision ever since, but today's
Supreme Court's decision, which upholds the legal validity of the CL and
dismisses Bayer's Special Leave Petition, is a major win for public health
and concludes the legal proceedings on the CL.
Medecins Sans Frontieres responds to the news of the decision
'Amidst intense ongoing US government pressure tactics being waged on India
on behalf of the US pharmaceutical industry, today's Indian Supreme Court
decision demonstrates the independence of the Indian judiciary in upholding
India's right to legislate with public health interests in mind.
MSF is encouraged by this particularly strategic win for public health and
access to medicines, whereby the Supreme Court has worked to ensure
continued patient access to affordable versions of this lifesaving cancer
drug, in spite of a multi-year campaign by Bayer to reverse the decision.
'It was clear not only to MSF but also to the Indian judiciary that Bayer's
so-called patient access programme was reaching only around 2% of patients
in need, and that furthermore, Bayer's full R&D costs for development of
the drug had been recouped in just one year. In response, the Indian
government used legal flexibilities allowed in international law to
jumpstart generic production, so that a patent-based monopoly on the drug
would not be the culprit standing in the way of saving lives.
'Today we applaud this heartening news, which reaffirms India's critical
role in forging a new and progressive path in balancing intellectual
property and public health.”
-- Leena Menghaney, Regional Head - South Asia, MSF Access Campaign
Shailly Gupta
MSF Access Campaign
New Delhi
Shailly <shailly.17@gmail.com>