Pharmaceutical CEO Says His Cancer-Fighting Drugs Aren't For Poor People

Big pharmaceutical companies constantly compete with one another to come up with the next "superstar" life-saving drug. But when the cure becomes a means of making money rather than a way to save lives, maybe they should refocus their mission statements.

This money-hungry thought process has proven true in Bayer CEO Marijn Dekkers' recent comment where he said that Bayer's new cancer-fighting drug Nexavar was not made for poor people. Specifically, poor people from India.

Dekkers quote is rooted in his anger towards the Indian pharmaceutical company Natco Pharma Ltd., which was granted a license to make a generic version of Nexaver. Nexaver treats late-stage kidney and liver cancer at a 97% reduced price. Instead of costing an estimated $69,000 for a year of medication, patients in India can now receive the same treatment for $177.