Hyderabad: Hyderabad based Natco Pharma has done it again. After successfully taking on global drug giant Bayer over renal cancer drug Nexavar, Natco Pharma has now taken on another drug giant Bristol Myers Squibb.
In what could have the makings of yet another patents battle, the Hyderabad-based generic drug maker has launched a cheaper generic version of Bristol Myers Squibb's blood cancer drug Sprycel at a fraction of the innovator pricing.
Natco launched Dasatinib in June this year at a pricing of Rs 9,000 for a month's supply as against BMS pricing of around Rs 1.6 lakh for a month's supply of Sprycel after it bagged a marketing licence from the Uttarakhand state drug regulator to sell a generic version of the drug.
Incidentally, Natco is already embroiled in a legal battle with BMS over the same drug since 2009 after it had approached the Indian drug regulator Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for an export licence for Dasatinib.
But this time around, Natco was able to launch Dasatinib because the Indian Drugs and Cosmetics Act empowers state regulators to grant approval to new drug versions after four years of the grant of the first patent.
BMS had already won a patent suit over Sprycel against another Hyderabad-based drug maker Hetero Drugs that had in 2009 sought the DCGI approval.
It may be recalled that in March this year, Natco had won a path-breaking compulsory licence from the Indian Controller General of Patents for selling Sorafenib, a generic version of Bayer's Nexavar, at a price of Rs 8800 for a month's dosage.
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