[Ip-health] Indian court rejects Novartis patent challenge

[Prabhu Ram]

Indian court rejects Novartis patent challenge


By S. Murari

CHENNAI, India, Aug 6 (Reuters) - An Indian court rejected on Monday a
challenge by Novartis to Indian law that denies patents for minor
improvements to known drugs, and the Swiss drug giant said it was
unlikely to appeal.

The court in the southern city of Chennai rejected the challenge,
saying it had no jurisdiction on whether Indian patent laws complied
with intellectual property rules set by the World Trade Organisation,
as Novartis had questioned.

"We disagree with this ruling, however we likely will not appeal to
the Supreme Court," a Novartis spokeswoman said by phone from Basel,
in Switzerland. "We await the full decision to better understand the
court's position."

A statement from Novartis in India said that the ruling would "have
long-term negative consequences for research and development into
better medicines for patients in India and abroad".

Novartis says the Indian patent system stifles innovation. Critics of
Novartis say changes to the law would affect the supply of affordable
anti-AIDS drugs from India, one of the biggest makers of generic
drugs.

Novartis had gone to the Madras High Court in Chennai to challenge a
law that blocks the patenting of minor improvements in known
molecules.

"Novartis brought this case forward because it firmly believes this
was the right thing to do for patients," the statement said.

"Effective patent systems ensure incentives are in place that
stimulate long-term research and development efforts critical for
medical progress."

ADVOCACY GROUPS JUBILANT

In April, the same court had also ordered that another challenge by
Novartis to a January decision that rejected its patent application
for a cancer drug, Glivec, be referred to an appellate board.

That patent application was turned down because the drug was a new
form of a known substance.

India is a key source of cheap generic medicines, and advocacy groups
worry that millions of poor people could lose access to key drugs if
Novartis succeeds in its challenge.

Aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said the court order
confirmed exactly what it had been saying, that Indian courts were not
the proper forum to raise this issue and Novartis should settle it at
the WTO.

"We absolutely welcome this court order," said Leena Menghaney of MSF
in India, which has been campaigning against the Novartis challenge.

"It means patents will only be granted based on research and
development and not just tinkering around with the old molecule to
make a new form of an old drug."

"It basically means fewer patents will be granted by the Indian patent
office, and that means more affordable drugs can be produced by Indian
manufacturers."

Indian Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said in April that the
government was "very concerned" that the challenge by Novartis could
restrict the global supply of cheap anti-AIDS drugs.

India is home to the world's third largest population living with HIV
after South Africa and Nigeria, with an estimated 2.5 million infected
people. (Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen in New Delhi)