Storm brewing for MNCs in India, with price caps and compulsory licensing mooted

Several multinationals in India continue to be sole sellers of certain cancer drugs even after product patents expire, with generic companies unwilling or unable to enter the market due to various barriers including manufacturing and regulatory.

An academic paper has found the market for anti-cancer drugs in India has become highly monopolized after Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), with 10 molecules cornering 59.4% market share from 2013-2015, and molecules with two brands having 65.3% total sales in the same period, reports The Pharma Letter’s India correspondent.

Citing examples of innovator companies who continue to dominate the Indian market even after patent expiry, the paper includes Janssen (Johnson & Johnson {NYSE: JNJ) for trabectedin; Roche (ROG: SIX) for tocilizumab; Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) for abatacept; Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) for idarubicin and Novartis (NOVN: VX) for aliskiren.