Appellate Board upholds compulsory licence of cancer drug

The Hindu reports that India’s Intellectual Property Appellate Board has upheld the decision of the Controller of Patents to issue a compulsory licence for Bayer’s Nexavar. The most interesting part of the proceeding might be Bayer’s contention that Natco (the generic producer) is selling its version in China and Pakistan (the Appellate Board refused to consider the allegation). Bayer gets the award for Chutzpah after its attempt to claim that another unauthorised generic version of the the product meant there was no problem with access in India.