Guest post : Why the compulsory licence to Natco is a bad idea

I'd like to introduce a guest post from Ranga Iyer, former MD of Wyeth Limited and a drug industry veteran. He is currently an independent advisor to Indian and foreign drug companies on strategy, policy, as also mergers and acquisitions.  In 2009, Ranga, then president of the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India,  was ranked …

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India’s compulsory licence to Natco : follow-up thoughts

In granting a compulsory licence to Natco on Bayer's cancer drug Nexavar the patents office has done its job well. It has put a provision in the law meant expressly to balance public good with incentives for innovation to its right use. See Shamnad Basheer's lucid analysis of the order on spicyip. But it is …

India’s compulsory licence to Natco : First cut

I quickly read through the Indian Patent Office's order granting a compulsory licence to Hyderabad's Natco to make and sell its generic of Bayer's patented liver and kidney cancer drug Nexavar in India.  While I'm no legal expert and I've just speed-read the order, some things just stand out so here goes. The order as …

NICE, Nexavar, and why it matters

There has been some strong media and patient outrage in the UK over a decision to not make available Bayer's Nexavar, a drug for terminally-ill liver cancer patients, through the National Health Service.  UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence - referred to as the NHS' drug rationing body by the UK media - …