Activists Call for British Government to Over-Ride Roche Patent

Patients and campaigners are fighting for Britain’s health minister to over-ride Roche’s (OTCMKTS:RHHBY) patent on the breast cancer drug Kadcyla.
According to Reuters:

The move shows the growing pricing pressure on drug companies on both sides of the Atlantic, especially in the field of cancer where new treatments can cost well over $100,000. A group of patients and campaigners has called on Britain’s health minister to over-ride patents protecting Roche’s expensive breast cancer drug Kadcyla to allow for the import or manufacture of cut-price copies.
In a letter to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Thursday, the Coalition for Affordable T-DM1 said the government should grant a compulsory license for patents covering Kadcyla, or T­-DM1, allowing other companies to supply so-called biosimilar versions.
It said UK and European law contained provisions for this and one company had already indicated a willingness to make the drug in Britain, if a compulsory license was issued. (bit.ly/1OaK8Wc)
While Kadcyla can add about six months to the lives of some women with breast cancer, Britain’s cost watchdog the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) says its price of 90,000 pounds ($136,000) per patient is excessive.

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