Roche bans rivals from comparing copycat drugs to Herceptin
Source: Reuters
Pharmaceutical group Roche said it secured an injunction from an Indian court banning generic drug makers Biocon and Mylan from comparing their copycat versions of Roche's Herceptin breast cancer treatment to the original.
Mylan and Biocon, which co-developed breast cancer drugs CANMab and Hertraz they say are biosimilars of Herceptin, are no longer allowed to refer to Herceptin or its manufacturing process, safety, efficacy and sales when communicating about their drugs, the New Delhi High Court ruled on Wednesday.
India's Biocon and U.S.-based Mylan launched CANMab and Hertraz in India this year after Roche decided last summer not to pursue a patent application for Herceptin in India, paving the way for generic drugmakers to produce cheaper copies, known as biosimilars because they are not identical to the original drug.
(snip)
Biocon and Mylan won approval from the Indian drug regulator in November for marketing a generic version of Herceptin. Biocon said in a statement on its website the injunction was "an extremely shocking, but not unexpected development", adding Roche was trying to prevent Indian patients from accessing a more affordable trastuzumab, the generic name of Herceptin.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/07/us-roche-injunction-idUSBREA161B420140207
Also:
India was never a huge market for Herceptin -- in 2012, it only reported $21 million in Herceptin sales from India. Roche attempted to boost sales in India by lowering the price to $1,366 per month (compared to $4,500 in the U.S.).
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/02/10/todays-biggest-biotech-stories-roche-merck-bayer-a.aspx
Not only that. Herceptin originally was developed for metastatic breast cancer. Only in 2006 - I think - was it found effective for stage one breast cancer, vastly increasing its market. Yet, it continues to increase the price.
Greedy bastards.
