Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia, a variant of blood cancer, is quite common in the city and in most cases, life threatening. Glivec, the anti-cancer drug sought to be patented by Swiss pharma firm Novartis, costs over one lakh per month. The Supreme Court on Monday rejected its plea for patent and doctors in city hospitals have hailed the verdict, observing that the drug, which would now become cheaper, would save thousands of lives.
A senior oncologist at the MNJ Institute of Oncology and Regional Cancer Center, on condition of anonymity, told City Express that there had been many instances wherein the cost of the drug deterred patients from taking it and that led to their deaths. “In many cases, patients are reluctant to take the medicine every month and many of them die. With the verdict against the Swiss firm, more generic companies will come into the scene and thus, more patients will benefit, especially the poor,” the doctor said.
At the MNJ cancer hospital, 10-15 new chronic myeloid leukaemia cases are reported every month and are referred to the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, reportedly due to shortage of manpower. “So far, around 500 patients have been sent to NIMS from here,” the doctor said.
Novartis, which has been running the Glivec International Patient Assistance Programme Center (GIPAP) supplying the drug free of cost to BPL patients, has of late been asking some patients to pay partially, a senior oncologist at NIMS alleged. “Novartis keeps continuous check on the financial position of patients availing drugs. In some cases, they have asked patients to pay up to `60,000 based on their financial well-being. Now, such patients can shift to generic medicines and save a lot of money,” said the oncologist. NIMS, which has one of the initial Glivec International Patient Assistance Programme Centers in AP, has around 1700 patients of chronic myeloid leukaemia with around 40-50 new cases reported every month.
“Mostly, patients who are Above Poverty Line (APL) but not rich as such, the middle class, are going to benefit, since more companies would start producing the generic drug and with better competition, the prices might further come down,” the doctor said.
Terming this the best available treatment for chronic myeloid leukaemia since 2000, he said, “There is no major difference between Glivec and its generic variants. Since it is a form of targeted chemotherapy, there are no major side effects too. The treatment is just like that for a diabetic or hypertension patient. One needs to keep taking the medicine every month for lifetime.”