Indian Health Ministry seeking compulsory license for B-MS' Sprycel

Anti leukemia drug dasatinib, made by US pharma major Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) and sold in India under the brand name Sprycel, could be in the dock once again, with the Health Ministry requesting anew the grant of a compulsory license for the cancer drug, reports The Pharma Letter's India correspondent.

Earlier, a Health Ministry proposal to consider a government initiated compulsory licence for dasatinib was shot down by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the nodal department of the government of India handling intellectual property matters, on the ground that it is unaffordable. The Health Ministry has held that the high priced, patent protected anti cancer drug is out of reach of several patients.

What has also come to the fore in all the wrangling between the different government departments is that India is treading gingerly around the issue of compulsory licences, given the fact that the country has been accused by the US Trade Representative of its laws being prejudicial and discriminatory against US pharmaceutical companies.