Bangalore: The Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) in Chennai, India, has asked Hyderabad-based Natco Pharma to reply to Bayer's plea against the issuance of compulsory license to it for selling the generic equivalent of cancer drug Nexavar.

The IPAB did not impose any costs on Natco Pharma for not filing its reply till date and has postponed the hearing till September 3. The board also refused to order a stay on Natco's license to make and sell sorafenib tosylate.

Bayer filed a petition with the board challenging the order of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks granting compulsorily licensing to Natco Pharma to market the generic version of Nexavar. Bayer filed the petition against Natco Pharma, the controller of general patents and the central government.

The case, along with the Novartis case against the Indian patent office for refusal to grant a patent for its cancer drug Glivec, highlights the dissatisfaction of the big pharma with India's patent regime, especially because the country has emerged as a big market for the multinationals. (Read Debate over compulsory licensing of Bayer's Nexavar)