BDR Pharma seeks licence to sell version of a cancer drug

MUMBAI (Reuters) - BDR Pharmaceuticals International Pvt Ltd has applied to the patents office, seeking permission to sell a generic version of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co's cancer drug, dasatinib, through a so-called compulsory licence mechanism, a BDR executive said on Monday.

Under a global Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement, countries can issue compulsory licences for certain drugs that are deemed unaffordable to a large section of their populations.

Early this month, Bayer AG lost an appeal challenging the first-ever compulsory licence issued by India which allowed Natco Pharma to sell a version of the German drugmaker's cancer treatment Nexavar.

(Reporting by Kaustubh Kulkarni; Editing by Anupama Dwivedi)