Compulsory License Costs Novartis 5 Percent In Thailand Sales

Switzerland's Novartis says Thailand's compulsory-licensing system for key drugs will hold its sales growth in the country to only 15 percent, below the 20 percent it had anticipated. The government overrode the Novartis patent earlier this year, allowing an India-made generic version of its cancer drug Femara (letrozole). Novartis avoided a similar CL on its other cancer drug, Gleevec (imatinib), by agreeing to provide some other drugs for free in Thailand. Novartis has a 4.4 percent sales share in Thailand, third behind Pfizer and Sanofi-Aventis. (Click here for more