German pharma major Bayer has charged that Indian generic drugmaker Cipla had breached its patent rights by slashing the price of a generic version of its patent-protected cancer drug Nexavar last week. Bayer Pharma has not given its consent to Cipla to launch its generic Sorafenib (sold under the brand name Nexavar) and the companys decision to cut the price of the life-extending kidney and liver cancer drug is a clear patent infringement,a Bayer spokesperson said. Novartis to probe drug approval irregularities ZURICH: Swiss drugmaker Novartis said on Thursday it would investigate alleged drug approval irregularities in India after a parliamentary report found the countrys regulator colluded with pharmaceutical firms to speed up approval procedures. The parliamentary committee reviewed 39 randomly selected drugs approved by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO). In the case of 11 drugs,including Novartis everolimus and aliskiren,it found that mandatory Phase III trials the final stage of testing before a drug is approved had not been conducted as required.
