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Rituximab in India

S

SaraEngland

Messages
33
A summary of an old article in the Wall Street Journal (2012).

By
JEANNE WHALEN
Updated March 23, 2012 9:36 a.m. ET


Roche Holding AG is cutting the price of two expensive cancer drugs in India—and giving them new names—in an effort to gain market share and avoid competition from generic drugs in the fast-growing economy.


The drugs will be packaged locally by India-based Emcure Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Mr. Goeker said. Roche is hoping the new names, which haven't been revealed and are subject to Indian approval, will prevent wholesalers from buying the Indian product and reselling it at a profit in other markets, where the new brand names won't be licensed for sale, he said.

The rebranding addresses a growing headache for the pharmaceutical industry. Middlemen increasingly are snapping up cancer drugs in low-cost markets for resale in more profitable markets, such as the U.S. and Europe, even though such trade is illegal in some countries.

Roche also hopes that giving the Indian product a separate identity will help the company maintain its prices for Herceptin and Mabthera outside India. "The original Herceptin and Mabthera (Rituximab) price are not going to change. This is going to be a second brand," Mr. Goeker said.
Click to expand...

I know Reditux has been widely available in India for some time, but I didn't know that Roche had their own version in the market.


The drug is called Ikgdar and is made by Roche under the company name Emcure Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

I found some prices online:

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It looks like they call it Ristova in Pakistan. Here is the brochure: http://www.roche.com.pk/content/dam/ROPEGRA/Ristova/Ristova-ra-cmi_new (1).pdf

Looks like the price is 37,500 indian rupee, or $585/£376 for 10 mg x 1 mL x 50ml.

It looks like the price in the USA is around $2840 for the same amount of Rituxan/Rituximab (wholesale). Could this be right? I know dr. Kogelnik charges around $6800 per infusion for the drug, whether it is 500mg/1g. They also charge $2000 for costs related to the infusion.

And has anyone received treatment for ME with Rituximab in India? I am very skeptical about untested biosimilars, but this product comes straight from Roche.
 
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