Citing the high cost of the kidney- and liver-cancer medicine, India's patent authority in March forced Bayer to grant a compulsory license on the Nexavar to Natco Pharma so that a cheaper copy of the potentially lifesaving drug will be accessible to local patients.
I'll break that down for you. Bayer spent billions upon billions on research and development to create a drug to address kidney and liver cancer. India thinks it costs too much, so a local company produces a cheaper generic version of the drug.Germany-based Bayer in May appealed against the grant of the compulsory license. It had also sought a stay on the sales of generic Nexavar by the Indian company until the appellate body decided on its petition.
India's patent court then decided to require Bayer to provide a license to the knock-off pharmacutical company in India. So, in short, Bayer will never recover the costs to create this drug.
Now...before you call me a cold-blooded capitalist placing cold hard cash over the sanctity of life, allow me to ask you one question:
Will Bayer be more or less likely to innovatively create similar drugs in the future?
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