Pharmaceutical major Roche said that its decision to slash the price of two expensive cancer drugs in India is not linked to the Bayer-Natco case. The Indian Patent Office had allowed Natco Pharma to manufacture cancer treatment drug Nexavar at a price over 30 times lower than charged by its patent-holder Bayer Corporation.

But Roche told Business Line that its decision to cut price was part of its larger strategy to gain market share in India. “This has nothing to do with the Bayer case. Rather it is part of our overall strategy in emerging markets, where we work closely with governments and payers in order to enable access to our medicines,” Mr Daniel Grotzky, Spokesperson for Roche, told Business Line via e-mail.

He said that the strategy will be implemented by end of 2013. “At this time we cannot provide details on how these local brands would be priced in India other than that it would be significantly reduced to the normal brands,” he said, adding that Roche is currently exploring how it can expand access to patients through partnership for local late-stage manufacturing and the introduction of locally branded Herceptin and MabThera.

“The scope is to enable access for a large majority of patients who currently pay out of pocket as well as to partner with the government to enable increased access to our products for people in need,” he said.

The Wall Street Journal had reported that Roche Holding AG is cutting the price of two expensive cancer drugs in India and giving them new names. By giving the drugs new names in India, Roche hopes to avoid losing pricing power elsewhere and offering lower-priced is to avoid being compelled to allow generic-drug makers to produce copy.

The drugs are Herceptin and Mabthera, the wholesale costs of which are about $ 3,000 to $4,500 a month per patient.

> tkt@thehindu.co.in

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