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Swiss drug major Roche has entered into an agreement with India's Emcure Pharma for locally manufacturing two of its patented cancer drugs that could help in making the medicines cheaper, the government said today.
"One of the foreign companies manufacturing drugs for treatment of cancer, Roche has informed that they have entered into an agreement with Indian manufacturing company, Emcure Pharmaceuticals Ltd, to produce its innovative biologics in India," Minister of State of Chemicals and Fertilisers Srikant Kumar Jena said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.
The technology transfer project, through Roche's global technical operations function, will allow for local manufacturing of Roche's medicines such as Trastuzumab and Rituximab, he added.
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Trastuzumab in the strength of 440 mg is currently available at maximum retail price (inclusive of VAT) at Rs 1,10,700. The proposed price of the drug is Rs 75,000, Jena said.
Another drug Rituximab in the strengths of 500 mg and 100 mg are currently available at MRP of Rs 80,000 and Rs 16,000, respectively. The proposed prices of the drug in both the strengths will be Rs 37,500 and Rs 7,500, respectively, he added.
Currently the products are imported and distributed by Taksal Pharma Pvt Ltd.
