Bayer to appeal against Nexavar patent order

Bayer AG  will move Mumbai high court against a ruling by Intellectual Property Appellate Board that upheld the compulsory licence issued to India's Natco Pharma to make and sell a low-cost generic of the German drug major's patented cancer drug Nexavar.

Bayer holds the patent right for Nexavar in India until 2020.

Intellectual Property Appellate Board had Monday upheld the compulsory licence granted to Hyderabad-based Natco Pharma, saying that the government was using its rights under the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to issue compulsory licences to overcome barriers to access cheaper version of a patented drug without the consent of the company that invented it.

Bayer will not accept a ruling by the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) in Chennai on Monday, upholding the compulsory licence granted on March 9 last year and it will appeal against the patent office order at the high court in Mumbai, a spokesperson said.

The IPAB ruling was in response to a petition filed by the German drug maker on May 4 last year seeking to overturn the compulsory licence issued by the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks to the Hyderabad-based Natco Pharma.

In an initial judgement, the IPAB had in September last year dismissed a petition by Bayer to stay the compulsory licence.

The IPAB also came to the conclusion that even though Bayer had obtained a patent for Nexavar in India in 2008, it could not make available the kidney and liver cancer drug on a large scale at an affordable price within the stipulated time.

Rejecting the IPAB ruling, the spokesperson said the drug-maker had produced sufficient quantities of Nexavar to meet the demands of Indian patients using the medicine.

Since 2008, the company has been operating a special programme in cooperation with doctors in India to improve cancer patients' access to treatments with Nexavar and they received the drug for less than one-tenth of the market price.

More than 73 per cent of the patients using Nexavar benefitted from this programme last year, the spokesperson said.

The patent office had asked Natco Pharma to make available Nexavar to cancer patients a monthly dose of 120 tablets for Rs 8,800 ($176) compared to Rs 280,000 ($5,500) charged by Bayer.

As part of the licence condition, Natco Pharma had to pay Bayer a six per cent royalty on the net sales of the cancer drug on a quarterly basis. (With PTI inputs)