SC again asks Novartis to slash cancer drug price

13 Sep 2012 Evaluate

Reasoning that the company's scheme for providing the drug free to poor patients was complicated, the Supreme Court on Wednesday once again urged pharma company Novartis to scale down the price of its cancer drug Glivec, made from compound imatinib mesylate.

Further, apex court bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, besides reasoning the scheme to be complicated, also averred that the end result of the any commercial venture was profit or loss and that Novartis' business transactions meant financial results.

Novartis filed an affidavit in pursuance to a query by the court on Tuesday whether the pharma company would continue with its scheme of providing free or subsidised medicine to poor and needy patients if it was granted patent of Glivec.

The court on Tuesday said that cost of Rs 1.2 lakh per month, charged by the company, is too high to afford a treatment. Further, taking a dig at the huge cost of the drug, the bench even remarked in a lighter vein that the cost was perhaps exorbitant even for the apex court judge.

Glivec is the trade name of chemical beta crystalline form of imatinib mesylate compound which is used for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and malignant gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Further, the medicine which was being marketed by the trade name of “Gleevec” had been patented in 35 countries including by the US.

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