Cipla eyes price cuts on more cancer drugs

By Kaustubh Kulkarni and Tony Munroe

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Drugmaker Cipla (CIPL.NS), long a thorn in the side of big pharma, is looking at cutting the prices of more cancer drugs after it slashed the prices of three treatments last week by as much as 75 percent.

Y.K. Hamied, chairman and managing director of India's fourth-largest drugmaker by sales, said the unexpected response to the price cuts, including for its generic version of Bayer's (BAYGn.DE) kidney and liver cancer drug Nexavar, prompted Cipla to consider further moves.

"Our agents and partners in Africa and other countries have written to us: 'are you extending your price reductions to us?'" Hamied said in an interview.

Hamied and Cipla made headlines in 2001 by producing antiretroviral drugs to treat AIDS in Africa for under $1 per day. Hamied said Cipla was working out details of how to cut prices on more of the 23 cancer drugs it makes.

"I am now sitting with my boys to see what reductions we can make in the entire range of cancer drugs. We are making some calculations about pricing, costing and other aspects."

In March, India stripped Germany's Bayer of its exclusive rights to sell Nexavar, granting another Indian company, Natco Pharma (NATP.NS), a licence to sell the generic drug at 8,880 rupees for a monthly dose, over Bayer's objections.

That decision was seen as setting a precedent that could extend to other treatments, including modern HIV/AIDS drugs, in a blow to global pharmaceutical firms.

Bayer sells branded Nexavar at 284,428 rupees a month and has filed a legal challenge to India's decision.

Cipla now sells Nexavar at 6,840 rupees a month, undercutting Natco.

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Cipla eyes price cuts on more cancer drugs