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Case Study

Nexavar® India

2 pages

June 2012

Reference: IMD-3-2310

On 9 March 2012, a decision taken by India’s Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks revived a drawn-out debate on the use and abuse of intellectual property rights in international commerce. The ruling granted a non-exclusive and non-assignable compulsory license to Natco Pharma to manufacture and sell a generic version of Bayer’s Nexavar – a drug used to treat advanced-stage liver and kidney cancer. Hyderabad-based Natco would sell a monthly dose of the life-saving medicine for INR 8,800 ($172), i.e. at a discount of 97% on the innovator price, and would pay 6% royalties to Bayer. Although the decision was applauded by NGOs and patient advocacy groups, others hoped that the case would trigger a much needed review of relevant competition and trade policy standards, of the legitimacy of corporate versus national industrial policy objectives, as well as of the respective roles of emerged versus emerging markets and those of states versus businesses in funding research and providing healthcare. The case provides a starting point for that discussion.

Keywords

Intellectual Property Rights, Pharmaceuticals, General Management, Strategy

Settings

World/global, India
Bayer
2012

Type

Published Sources

Available Languages

English

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