Indian court delivers landmark ruling in drugs patent case

Updated

India's supreme court has ruled against Swiss drug giant Novartis in a landmark case that activists say will protect access to cheap generic drugs in developing nations.

Novartis fought a seven-year legal battle to gain patent protection for an updated version of its leukaemia drug Glivec.

Glivec sells in developed nations for more than $3,000 for a month's worth of treatment, but a generic version is sold in India for less than $200.

India's law restricts pharmaceutical companies from seeking fresh patents for making only small modifications - an industry practice known as evergreening - and the ruling enables generic drugmakers to continue copying Glivec.

The court upheld the view of India's patent office, which refused to grant patent protection on the grounds that the new version of Glivec was not vastly different from the earlier version.

The case is the most high-profile of several battles being waged in India and was seen as having far-reaching implications in defining the extent of patent protection for multinational drug firms operating in the lucrative market.

Lawyer Anand Grover, representing the Cancer Patients Aid Association which opposed Novartis in the patent case, said he was "ecstatic with the ruling".

"This will go a long way in providing affordable medicine for the poor," Mr Grover said outside the courtroom in New Delhi.

Novartis India Ltd, a unit of the Swiss drugmaker, has condemned the judgment.

Managing director Ranjit Shahani said it would discourage medical innovation.

"The ruling is a setback for patients, which will hinder medical progress," he said.

"The primary concern that we have of course is India's non-recognition of intellectual property rights which sustain research and development."

Sorry, this video has expired Video: Dr Jennifer Cohn from Medicins Sans Frontieres discusses the ruling (ABC News)

Copycat medicines

India's huge generic drug industry has been a major supplier of copycat medicines to treat diseases such as cancer, tuberculosis and AIDS for those who cannot afford expensive branded versions.

Pratibha Singh, a lawyer for Indian generics giant Cipla who was also outside the court, said the the ruling "will have implications not just for India but also for other Asian, African and Latin American countries".

"The ruling also makes it clear you cannot patent a drug by just making some minor modifications," she said.

Novartis and other global drugmakers say India's generics industry inhibits pharmaceutical innovation and reduces the commercial incentives to produce cutting-edge medicines.

The verdict could see other global drug firms restrict the sale of their branded medicines in India, a pharmaceutical market that is set to touch $71 billion in sales by 2020 from $10.6 billion in 2011.

India's copycat drugs industry, which supplies one-fifth of the world's generics, grew into a powerhouse because the country did not issue drug patents until 2005 when it began complying with World Trade Organisation rules.

ABC/AFP

Topics: courts-and-trials, pharmaceuticals, health, india, switzerland, asia

First posted