Who is pushing costly medicines, wonders Kurian

Kochi: P.H. Kurian is a happy man, but bit baffled, too. That the Supreme Court on Friday upheld his 2012 order granting compulsory licence to an Indian pharma company to manufacture cheaper version of a cancer drug leaves him satisfied.

He is baffled, because the multinational companies were able to sell the costly patented drugs in the last two years, though their cheaper versions were available in the Indian market.

Kurian, as Controller-General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, had issued compulsory licensing to Hyderabad-based Natco to manufacture anti-cancer drug nexavar, patented by German multinational Bayer.

As a result, prices crashed from Rs 2.84 lakh to Rs 6,000 for a month’s use. In an earlier order, he had allowed Indian pharma companies to manufacture glivec, another anti-cancer drug patented by Novartis, leading to its prices coming down from Rs 1.24 lakh to Rs 8,000 for 30 days’ use.

Compulsory licensing allows an Indian manufacturer to make a copy of a patented drug at a very low cost, if the office of the Controller-General feels the drug is unaffordable for the public.

“The Supreme Court verdict was on expected lines and I am happy about it,” Kurian told DC. “What I don't understand is that the multinationals were to sell drugs even while their cheaper Indian versions were available.

I cannot imagine a patient asking for the costly medicine on his own. This cannot happen without the connivance of some in the doctor community.”

“These drugs are pure compounds and must be effective whether an MNC or an Indian manufacturer makes it,” Mr Kurian, at present principal secretary (Industries and IT), said.

“This is not just about these medicines. There are only around 400 patented drugs in India, and some are imported. The rest are all generic drugs. But companies fleece people by offering them as branded generic drugs.”

He said there must be a concerted effort by the government, doctors, pharma companies and the community at large if the pricing were to become rational.

“DGPD&T had last year rejected the application for compulsory licensing for ‘dasatinib', another, more widely used anti-cancer drug,  patented by US-based Bristol Myers Squibb Company,” he pointed out.