Indian govt plans compulsory licences for trastuzumab, ixabepilone and dasatinib

The Indian government's move to issue compulsory licences to three more patented cancer drugs has left a few of the pharma multinational in a lurch, reports the local Business Standard newspaper.

The government, according to the newspaper, plans to issue compulsory licences for cancer drugs such as Roche’s (ROG: SIX) Herceptin (trastuzumab), used for breast cancer, and Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (NYSE: BMY) Ixempra (ixabepilone) for breast cancer treatment and Sprycel (dasatinib), for leukemia. It would be the first round of new compulsory licenses since India issued its first last March, on Bayer's kidney cancer treatment Nexavar (sorafenib; The Pharma letters passim).

Ranjit Shahani, president of the Organization of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI), the largest body for MNC pharma companies quoted by the Business Standard, said: "Issuing compulsory licences is a matter of concern, even though there are access programs by MNCs for medicines which very often bring down the prices significantly."