PRIVATE PATENTS AND PUBLIC HEALTH

TABLE 13 TOP 10 LEADING COMPANIES IN THE GLOBAL CANCER MARKET
BY SALES 239
COMPANY 2014 SALES (IN US$ BILLIONS) 2013 SALES (IN US$ BILLIONS)
Roche 25.15 24.65
Novartis 10.26 9.50
Celgene 7.49 6.34
Johnson & Johnson 3.99 3.36
Bristol-Myers Squibb 3.53 2.94
Lilly 3.39 3.27
Takeda 3.27 3.16
AstraZeneca 2.94 3.09
Merck & Co 2.70 3.05
Amgen 2.06 1.48
Prices of new cancer medication, for example, rise at a higher rate than
public and private spending on health care. This creates challenges even
for health systems and individuals in high-income countries. Cancer drug
prices have doubled in the United States (US) in the last decade from an
average of US$ 5,000 a month to US$ 10,000. 240 The United Kingdom (UK)
is struggling with providing cancer treatment to National Health Service
(NHS) patients. 241
THE IMATINIB (GLIVEC) CASE
Imatinib has helped nearly double the survival rate of people with
chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML). 242 Originally priced at US$ 30,000
a year in 2001, a group of over 100 physicians from six continents with
expertise in chronic myelogenous leukaemia wrote in the journal Blood
that by 2012 its price had climbed to US$ 92,000 a year after it became a
blockbuster treatment. Generic imatinib, manufactured in India where a
protracted legal case ended in the rejection of imatinib patents, costs
between US$ 2,004–2,112 a year. 243 The authors point out that the research
and development cost has long been earned back by the company and that
the number of patients using imatinib continues to rise, which should
lead to a reduction in price. Instead, since its introduction in the US in
2001, imatinib’s price has nearly tripled. 244
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THE NEW FRONTIERS: PATENTS AND TREATMENT FOR CANCER, HEPATITIS C, AND OTHER DISEASES
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