Bayer Challenges India, Again, Over A Compulsory License

File this under ‘If at first you don’t succeed…’ Seven months after India's Intellectual Property Appellate Board rejected an appeal from Bayer, which was fighting a compulsory license that permitted the sale of a generic version of its Nexavar cancer drug, the drugmaker has now filed a challenge with the Bombay High Court. The license was issued last year after Indian authorities determined that Nexavar pricing was deemed too expensive for most people in India. The license was issued to Natco, a large Indian generic drugmaker, which must pay Bayer 7 percent royalties on its sales. The challenge is not a surprise, though. At the time the IPAB upheld the license, Bayer quickly announced that an appeal would be filed (back story). The fight is going to be closely watched, however, because of the ongoing tussle over intellectual property rights in India. Drugmakers have complained bitterly that the Indian government has failed to respect these rights and enlisted politicians in Washington DC to argue their case. Various US officials from Congress and the US Patent & Trademark Office derided the Bayer decision, for example (more here). The battle intensified last April when the Indian Supreme Court rejected a patent sought by Novartis for its Gleevec cancer medication, a move that allowed lower-cost generic versions to continue to be sold. The case focused attention on the contentious interplay between intellectual property and the ability of the economically disadva...
Source: Pharmalot - Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs