Activists demand compulsory licence for another life-saving cancer drug

Encouraged by the recent decision of India's Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) to uphold the compulsory licence granted to generic drug manufacturer Natco for a cancer-drug, an advocacy group has demanded grant of licence for another cancer drug on occasion of International Woemn's Day on Friday. Members of the Campaign for Affordable Trastuzumab called on the commerce minister to grant similar licence to Trastuzumab, a life-saving drug for women with HER2+ breast cancer.

Will appellate body uphold grant of compulsory licence to cancer drug?

A patent triumph of public interest

Fresh winds are wafting changes in the stuffy world of pharmaceutical patents. Countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America—there are not too many just now—are enshrining flexibilities in their patent laws to ensure that public interest remains in the legal framework of the patent regime.

The NATCO CL fallout

No medicine can be cheap enough when one is fighting fatal diseases, specially the emperor of maladies. So there was much to shout about when Patent Controller P H Kurian granted Natco Pharma of Hyderabad a compulsory licence (CL) last month to make a generic version of Bayer Corporation’s sorefanib tosylate.

Indian company gets licence to manufacture and sell patented cancer drug

In a landmark judgment for cancer patients, Indian patent office has allowed generic drug manufacturer Natco Pharma Ltd to make and sell an anti-cancer drug Nexavar patented by Bayer Healthcare of Germany. This is the first ever compulsory license issued to a generic drug company in India to legally manufacture a drug while the patent is still operational.