{"entity":{"id":"natco","kind":"company","name":"Natco Pharma","aka":[],"tldr":"The oncology generics company at the centre of India's two landmark patent fights: the first compulsory licence, for sorafenib in 2012, and the Supreme Court's 2013 refusal of Novartis's imatinib patent.","summary":"Natco Pharma was founded in 1981 by V. C. Nannapaneni in Hyderabad and built its name on branded oncology generics for the Indian market, including one of the first generic imatinibs (Veenat) sold when India did not yet grant product patents. In March 2012 the Indian Patent Office granted Natco the country's first compulsory licence, for Bayer's sorafenib (Nexavar), at a price of about 8,800 rupees a month against Bayer's 280,000 rupees, with a royalty later set at 7% on appeal. On 1 April 2013 the Supreme Court upheld the refusal of Novartis's patent on the beta-crystalline form of imatinib mesylate under section 3(d) of the Patents Act, keeping generic imatinib on the market at a small fraction of the Glivec price. Natco later became a significant US generics player (lenalidomide under a volume-limited settlement from March 2022, pomalidomide) and in 2025 bought a 35.75% stake in South Africa's Adcock Ingram.","asOf":"2026-09-10","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natco_Pharma","links":[{"label":"Official website","url":"https://www.natcopharma.co.in"},{"label":"Novartis v Union of India (2013)","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novartis_v._Union_of_India_%26_Others"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":["targeted-therapy","chemotherapy"],"technologies":["kinase-inhibitors"],"targets":[],"drugs":["imatinib","sorafenib","lenalidomide","pomalidomide"],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":["nct05283226"],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-drug-pricing","b-global-access","b-ip-collaboration"],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"hq":"Hyderabad","country":"IN","companyType":"pharma","website":"https://www.natcopharma.co.in","ticker":"NATCOPHARM.NS","founded":1981,"investors":[],"funding":[]},"route":"/companies/natco/","neighbours":{"section":[{"id":"chemotherapy","kind":"section","name":"Chemotherapy","route":"/fronts/chemotherapy/"},{"id":"targeted-therapy","kind":"section","name":"Targeted Therapy","route":"/fronts/targeted-therapy/"}],"technology":[{"id":"kinase-inhibitors","kind":"technology","name":"Small-molecule kinase inhibitors","route":"/technologies/kinase-inhibitors/"}],"drug":[{"id":"imatinib","kind":"drug","name":"Imatinib","route":"/drugs/imatinib/"},{"id":"lenalidomide","kind":"drug","name":"Lenalidomide","route":"/drugs/lenalidomide/"},{"id":"pomalidomide","kind":"drug","name":"Pomalidomide","route":"/drugs/pomalidomide/"},{"id":"sorafenib","kind":"drug","name":"Sorafenib","route":"/drugs/sorafenib/"}],"trial":[{"id":"nct05283226","kind":"trial","name":"Study to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of Oral NRC-2694-A in Combination With Paclitaxel in Patients With Recurrent and/or Metastatic Head and Neck","route":"/trials/nct05283226/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-global-access","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Most of the world has almost no cancer care","route":"/bottlenecks/b-global-access/"},{"id":"b-drug-pricing","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Prices and value","route":"/bottlenecks/b-drug-pricing/"},{"id":"b-ip-collaboration","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Secrecy and intellectual property block collaboration","route":"/bottlenecks/b-ip-collaboration/"}],"term":[{"id":"nexavar-compulsory-licence","kind":"term","name":"Nexavar compulsory licence (India, 2012)","route":"/terms/nexavar-compulsory-licence/"}],"roadmap":[{"id":"global-access-roadmap","kind":"roadmap","name":"Global access and affordability roadmap: essential medicines and generics → biosimilars and frugal trials → reliance, pooling and homegrown innovation","route":"/roadmaps/global-access-roadmap/"}]}}