SC asks Novartis to mull cancer drug price cut

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Swiss drugmaker Novartis if the price of its cancer drug ‘Glivec’ could be slashed. The court said that 90 per cent Indians will not be able to afford the monthly treatment expense of Rs 1.2 lakh.

“Only people whose medicine bills are reimbursed can afford it,” a bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai remarked after being told about the price of “wonder drug”.

“I was shocked to see the prices of these drugs in India. Rs 1,20,000 per months,” the court said, adding “although the issue (price of drug) is not going to have a bearing on the case, it is bound to be in our sub-conscious mind.”

Senior counsel Gopal Subramaniam, appearing for the company, submitted that he would seek instruction on the point raised by the court. He, however, claimed that the company was running the patient assistance programme where the poor were not charged.

The court specifically asked about the price of the drug as the counsel started his arguments claiming the “wonder drug” also called “magic bullet” for cancer patient was the invention of the company which satisfied the stringent guidelines in 35 countries.

During the marathon hearing, he claimed that Novartis was a bonafide inventor of the drug after having undergone various processes of clinical trial and research to arrive at the beta-crystalline form of imatinib mesylate, the form used to treat chronic myeloid leukemia (blood cancer). The apex court was hearing on a petition filed by Novartis challenging the June 2009 Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) order, which had rejected the patent appeal of the company for beta-crystalline form of imatinib mesylate on the ground that it did not satisfy the efficacy requirements under Section 3(d) of the Indian Patent Act.