Business Standard reports that the Novartis’s famed cancer drug, Glivec, will not get patent protection in India. The apex body on patent and trademark disputes, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB), has ruled that the drug “lacks innovation” and the high price tag of Rs 1,20,000 per month per patient would be too high for the common man. “Any patent granted to support such a high monopoly price would be against ‘public order’,” the ruling said. This brings the curtains down on a high profile three-year legal battle over patent rights between the Swiss multinational drug major and the Indian government.
The IPAB panel, comprising Chairman ZS Negi and Technical Member PC Chakraborti, ruled that the beta crystalline version of the drug was not patentable under section 3(d) of the Indian Patent Act and lacked “significant enhanced efficacy” over and above the prior known molecule. The panel, in its decision on June 26, also ruled that the patents granted for the drug in about 40 countries may not be applicable to India.
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