Cipla, one of India’s leading pharmaceutical companies, announced a price cut of its drug, sorafenib, used for the treatment of liver and kidney cancers last week. The company claims its price of sorafenib will be Rs.6840 for a month’s supply now. Cipla has also made it clear that it is not doing a charity to the patient community by offering a lower price for the drug. That clarification means that even at this price company is making adequate profit on the drug. The company’s announcement of the price cut of the cancer drug comes after the granting of compulsory license for the manufacture and sale of sorafenib by Patent Controller of India last March to Hyderabad based Natco. The drug is under patent and is sold by Bayer under its brand name Nexavar in the Indian market at an exorbitant price of Rs.2.8 lakh for a months’ requirement. Natco has been seeking a commercial license from Bayer to sell sorafenib generic for some time but the multinational rejected that request some time ago. The Hyderabad based company then applied for a compulsory licence in September last to make a generic version of the drug. Natco argued that the patent holder had failed to meet the needs of the local market and was able to provide the drug to only a small group of patients. While granting the Compulsory Licence under Section of 84 of the Patent Act, the office of the Patent Controller directed that Natco price for the drug should be Rs. 8,880 for a month’s dosage and pay 6 per cent royalty to Bayer.
The Cipla’s action may not trigger a price cut of the drug by other companies like Natco, Glenmark and Hetero as expected. Bayer has already appealed to the Intellectual Property Appellate Board against the grant of CL to Natco and is fighting a patent infringement case against Cipla also for selling generic version of sorafenib. Pricing of patented life saving drugs has been a serious issue in India especially after the amended Indian Patent Act was notified in 2005. Several patent drugs have been launched in Indian market by multinationals at very high prices and the government has not been able to bring any kind of control on their prices. Most of these drugs are for treating life style diseases like diabetes, cancer, hypertension, cardiovascular problems and others. Life style diseases have been affecting people of all classes in the country on an epidemic scale for some years affecting their financial conditions as these medicines have to be taken lifelong. Granting CL to Indian generic companies is one hope for the patient community but considering inevitable litigations associated with such decision of the Patent Controller, the government has to come out with fixing of prices of patented drugs without any delay. The government had appointed an experts committee for this purpose more than five years ago and its recommendations are with it. With MNCs having a major share in the domestic pharmaceutical market today, launching of many more patented products with high prices has to be expected in the years to come.