Supreme Court Rejects Novartis plea on cancer drug patent

In its landmark decision on Monday, the Supreme Court has dismissed a petition by pharmaceutical company Novartis for a patent on its life saving cancer drug Glivec.

The decision will allow Indian drug companies to manufacture generic version of Glivec which is expected to be priced at around Rs. 10,000 per month, reducing the cost by almost 92%.

The Supreme Court’s rejection on Novartis plea will boost Indian healthcare market as well as it will affect many branded medicines which were unaffordable till now for most of the Indians.

Supreme Court of India has rejected Swiss Company Novartis’ plea for allow patent protection on Glivec on the grounds that is not a new medicine but an amended version of a known compound.

Last year Pfizer Inc’s cancer drug Sutent and Roche Holding AG’s hepatitis C treatment Pegasys have also lost their patented protection in India on the same ground.

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