Novartis loses patent battle in SC over its cancer drug
In a major blow to Swiss pharma giant Novartis, the Supreme Court today rejected its plea for a patent on cancer drug Glivec, a verdict that is expected to pave the way for Indian firms to provide affordable drugs to lakhs of cancer patients in the country.
Ending a seven-year legal battle by Novartis to have exclusive right for manufacturing Glivec and to restrain Indian firms from making generic medicine, the apex court while dismissing its plea held that there was no new invention and no new substance used in the drug prescribed for treating blood, skin and other types of cancer.
A bench of justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai refused to give credence to Novartis’ claim that ‘Imatinib Mesylate’, a substance used in the cancer drug, is a new product and the outcome of an invention.
In its 98-page verdict, the bench said that law of patent in the country should not be developed on the lines where patent is determined not on the intrinsic worth of invention but by the artful drafting of companies’ claims.
The legal battle over the patent, in which the claim of the Swiss firm was vehemently opposed by the Indian companies and health activists, was keenly watched by pharma companies across the world and will clear hurdles coming in the way of the manufacture of generic drugs in the country for cancer patients.
According to official estimates there are over 28 lakh cancer patients in the country.
“We certainly do not wish the law of patent in this country to develop on the lines where there may be a vast gap between the coverage and the disclosure under the patent; where the scope of the patent is determined not on the intrinsic worth of the invention but by the artful drafting of its claims by skillful lawyers, and where patents are traded as a commodity not for production and marketing of the patented products but to search for someone who may be sued for infringement of the patent,” the bench said.
The apex court judgement can pave the way for cancer patients getting cheaper drugs as a one-month dose of Glivec costs around Rs 1.2 lakh, while generic drugs, manufactured by Indian companies, for the same period, are priced at Rs 8,000.
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