US trade rep is pressing Indian government to forbid production of generic cancer drug, consortium says

The US government’s opposition to the generic manufacture of a cancer drug has been described as an “endorsement of excessive pricing, a rejection of the goal of access to medicine for all, and a death sentence for leukaemia patients” in a letter from an international network of people affected by cancer.

The letter, written by the Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment to Michael Froman, the US trade representative, alleged that he is using his position to pressure the Indian government to deny patients access to affordable generic versions of dasatinib.

Made by US firm Bristol-Myers Squibb, dasatinib (marketed as Sprycel) is used to treat both Philadelphia chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and chronic myeloid leukaemia when patients do not respond to other treatments.

Bristol-Myers Squibb …