Cipla teams up with Roche Pharma to sell cancer therapy drugs in India

This partnership is in line with Cipla and Roche's efforts to improve healthcare and increase access to innovative, life-changing medicines in India

Cipla and Roche, who fought a bitter legal battle over patent infringement of the latter’s lung cancer drug Tarceva, have turned partners for the first time.

On Tuesday, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche said it had tied up with Cipla to distribute its rheumatoid arthritis drug Actemra and anti-cancer drug Avastin.

Cipla gained 1 per cent after the agreement with Roche was announced.

At present, Roche sells both the drugs in India on its own and “through this partnership, the companies will leverage their expertise to increase access to these innovative medicines for patients in India”.

The tie-up would allow Roche to grow its market share, as local local drug makers have launched copies of its drugs.

It would enable Cipla to grow its domestic revenue and follows similar tie-ups it had inked with multinational companies like Novartis and Johnson & Johnson.

Cipla and Roche settled the patent dispute last year.

Cipla withdrew its petition in the Supreme Court in the matter.

Lara Bezerra, managing director, Roche Pharma India, said: “This partnership will significantly advance our efforts to expand the reach of, and improve access to, our innovative medicines. This will also enable us at Roche to focus on bringing new, transformative medicines to patients in India. We will continue to collaborate with various stakeholders to help transform health care in India.”

Avastin, which is the brand name of the biologic drug Bevacizumab, was introduced in India in 2005.

It is a blockbuster drug for Roche and earned more than $7 billion for the drug maker two years ago.

Local drug makers Intas, Zydus Cadila, Hetero and Reliance Life Sciences sell copies of bevacizumab in the domestic market.

Cipla managing director Umang Vohra said the prevalence of cancer and rheumatoid arthritis is widely spread across the country and Cipla “can contribute to provide broader access to innovative medicines”.