Cipla Ltd. Makes Cancer Drug Cheaper

Cipla has launched a copycat version of German pharma company Bayer's cancer medicine Nexavar at one-tenth the price, thumbing its nose again at the pharma multinational by selling drugs at a fraction of the original rates. Cipla's launch of its drug Soranib — used to treat kidney cancer — at Rs 28,000 for a month's dose, comes just a month after Bayer filed a patent infringement case against the company. "How many patients in India can afford Rs 2.8 lakh a month for one medicine?" asked Cipla joint managing director Amar Lulla. Pharma analysts and patient lobbyists welcomed Cipla's move, saying the launch will benefit the country's kidney cancer patients by radically slashing treatment costs. India has nearly 5 lakh cancer patients.