Bayer’s compulsory licence appeal set to start in India
A court appeal by Bayer against India’s first ever compulsory licence on its patented cancer drug will start today, October 29.
The appeal, at the Mumbai High Court, is against a ruling from the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) handed down in March this year.
The IPAB upheld a compulsory licence for Bayer’s Nexavar drug, which was issued by the Indian Controller of Patents in 2012.
The licence allowed generic drug company Natco Pharma to manufacture and market cheaper copies of the kidney cancer drug, also known as Sorafenib.
Issuing the licence, the controller said Bayer had not made it publicly available at a reasonably affordable price or sufficiently “worked the patent in India”.
Under the terms of the licence, Natco was ordered to pay Bayer 6 percent royalties on sales of the drug, which the IPAB increased to 7 percent after Bayer's appeal.
But German-based Bayer, having failed in its efforts to overturn the decision, has sought the court's intervention.
Since the decision to issue the compulsory licence, India has since recommended further licenses are issued for Sprycel (dasatinib) and Ixempra (ixabepilone) belonging to Bristol-Myers Squibb and Roche Holding AG’s Herceptin (trastuzumab).