[Commons-Law] Novartis wins Thai battle, setback for Indian firms

[Prashant Iyengar]

http://www.financialexpress.com/printer/news/268596/

Novartis wins Thai battle, setback for Indian firms
Reghu Balakrishnan
Posted online: Sunday , February 03, 2008 at 2256 hrs

Mumbai, Feb 3Even as the patent row between Indian generic firms and
Novartis over anti-cancer drug Glivec (imatinib mesylate) is still
raging on, the Swiss pharmaceutical major has won a government
decision in its favour in Thailand for the drug. The Thai government
has decided not to invoke a compulsory licence (CL) for imatinb,
denying Indian companies an opportunity to sell the drug in that
country at rates a tenth lower than the Swiss company's drug prices
globally.

The Thai government, on January 31, decided in favour of Novartis,
after the drug major agreed to provide free Glivec to patients having
a household income of less than 1.7 million baht ($51,515) a year. The
patented version of imatinib costs 3,600 Thai baht ($109) for a 400-mg
pill. Usually a patient requires a pill a day, which costs about 1.31
million baht ($39,800) a year, while the generic versions from India
will cost 150 baht ($4.50) a pill.

Veenat, Natco Pharma's cheaper version of imatinib, costs about Rs
10,000 per month. Last year, Pune-based Emcure Pharma had bagged the
order for supplying clopidogrel, the generic version of cardiac drug
Plavix, following the government's decision to invoke CL.

Experts are of the view that this strategy of MNCs will hit Indian
firms badly. An intellectual property expert said, "The case in
Thailand is more like differential pricing of the drug. People who
cannot afford the drug can get it cheaper or free of cost, while those
who can afford will get it at the market price. This will not
particularly hurt Novartis, as the drug patent is still enforced and
not overridden by compulsory licence." If research based-companies
start agreeing with differential pricing, it's likely that the CL will
not be invoked. And no generic company will want to sell cheaper drugs
for free, as it wants to recover at least a part of manufacturing and
shipping costs. Generic players, thus, stood to lose the game in such
cases, he added.

It is learnt that the Thai government has decided to issue a CL for
three more cancer drugs: docetaxel for treating lungs and breast
cancer, which is marketed by Sanofi-Aventis as Taxotere; letrozole for
breast cancer and marketed by Novartis as Femara; and erlotinib for
lungs cancer and marketed by Roche as Tarceva.