Glenmark cuts prices of lung cancer drug by up to 70%

Cancer treatment continues to get affordable on increased competition between generic drug makers.

Mid-sized pharma company Glenmark has drastically cut the prices of its lung cancer drugs by about 55-70% to grab a bigger pie of the market.

With this reduction, the difference between the Glenmark's generic drugs and innovator prices has widened almost 90%.

The company has recently cut the maximum retail price of its three lung cancer drugs Erleva (erlotinib), Geftib (gefitinib) and Pexotra (pemetrexed) by about 55-70%.

The new prices of cancer drugs such as Erleva (150 mg, 30 tablets) is Rs 9,700 (drop of 67.66% from Rs 30,000), Geftib tablets 250 mg (1 box of 3 strips of 10 tablets each) is Rs 3,999 (drop of 63.63% from Rs 10,998), Pexotra injection 100 mg (1 vial) is Rs 2,000 (fall of 56% from Rs 4,550) and Pexotra injection 500 mg (1 vial) is Rs 8,000 (fall of 60.87% from Rs 20,449).

The revised price is applicable at a pan-India level.

Sujesh Vasudevan, executive VP, Glenmark, told dna that more price reductions in different segments of the company's cancer drug portfolio are on the cards.

Oncology is a key focus therapeutic segment of Glenmark, not only in India but globally (along with dermatology and respiratory). Our effort will be to continue to increase market share and expand our patient base in the oncology segment of the country. The price changes which we have introduced recently are expected to positively impact thousands of patients across the country by making the treatment more affordable,” Vasudevan said.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), globally lung cancer accounts for 1,370,000 deaths each year and is by far the most common cancer killer. In India, approximately 63,000 new lung cancer cases are reported annually as per Indian Medical Journal.

Compared to the innovator drugs, the new price difference with generics is now in tune of over 90%. While the innovators drug price for erlotinib (by Roche) is Rs 1,20,900, the price difference with the Glenmark generic is now around 92%. Similarly, Glenmark generic of gefitinib is now 88% less costly than innovator AstraZeneca which is priced at Rs 33,263, while the generic pemetrexed (100 mg and 500 mg) costs less by 88.68% and 89%, respectively than innovator Lilly, which are priced at Rs 17,683 and Rs 73,660. The differences in prices have been calculated by making the stock keeping units (SKUs) uniform. Compared to other generic drug manufacturers, the price difference of these generic drugs by Glenmark is in tune of about 3-37%.

The company has also reduced prices of a few other cancer drugs as well. While it has reduced the price of generic abiraterone (Abirapro) used for treatment prostate cancer (metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer) by 64% to Rs 39,990, the price difference of this medicine with innovator Johnson & Johnson's Zytiga (priced at Rs 150,000) is around 73%. The company also reduced the price of generic bortezomib (Bortrac) used for treating multiple myeloma by 76% to Rs 3,999 and in comparison to J&J's Velcade (priced for Rs 60,630), the price difference is about 93%. Similarly, prices of generics aprepitant (Aprecap capsules) and fosaprepitant (Aprecap IV), used for indication of chemotherapy induced nausea and vomitting, are reduced by 37% and 21% to Rs 1,001 and 1,899, respectively. The price difference with innovator drug Emend (Rs 1,450) and Emend IV (Rs 2,464) by MSD is around 31% and 23%, respectively.

The city-based company has a relatively small market share in the oncology segment but is looking at increasing its market share and expand the patient base in the domestic market.

According to IPSOS, December 2014 moving annual total (MAT) data, the Indian oncology drugs market is worth around Rs 2,600 crore with an annual growth rate of 12%.