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Supreme Court dismisses plea of Novartis for patent of cancer drug

[email protected] (Reuters)
April 1, 2013

New Delhi/Mumbai, Apr 1: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG's attempt to win patent protection for its cancer drug Glivec, a serious blow to Western pharmaceutical firms who are increasingly focusing on India to drive sales.

The decision also sets a benchmark for several intellectual property disputes in India, where many patented drugs are unaffordable for most of its 1.2 billion people.Novartis

India's domestic drugs market is the 14th largest globally, but with annual growth of 13-14 per cent and the world's second biggest population, it has massive potential at a time when traditional developed markets have slowed down.

The Supreme Court's landmark ruling is likely to affect several other companies and their branded medicines.

Pfizer Inc's cancer drug Sutent and Roche Holding AG's hepatitis C treatment Pegasys lost their patented status in India last year, and Monday's ruling will make it tougher for them to win back patent protection.

"Henceforth, multinational pharma companies are likely to want that their patents are first recognised in India before launch of a patented product," said Ameet Hariani, managing partner at Mumbai-based law firm Hariani & Co.

Novartis has previously said that it needs legal certainty if it is to plan further investment in drug research in India.

The ruling is a boost for healthcare activists who want the government to make medicines cheaper in a country where patented drugs constitute under 10 per cent of total drug sales.

Novartis has been fighting since 2006 to win a patent for an amended form of Glivec. In 2009 it took its challenge against a law that bans patents on newer but not radically different forms of known drugs to the Supreme Court.

India has refused protection for Glivec on the grounds that it is not a new medicine but an amended version of a known compound. By contrast, the newer form of Glivec has been patented in nearly 40 countries including the United States, Russia and China.

The Supreme Court decided that Glivec does not satisfy the "novelty" aspect, Pravin Anand, lawyer for Novartis, told reporters.

Shares in Novartis India Ltd, the Indian unit of the drugmaker, fell over 5 per cent after the verdict.

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Agencies
March 25,2020

New Delhi, Mar 25: The Indian Rail Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) on Wednesday appealed to the people not to cancel their e-tickets on their own in case of trains being cancelled by the national transporter due to nation-wide lockdown to help curb the spread of novel coronavirus pandemic.

Clearing the doubts of the railway passengers, IRCTC spokesperson Siddharth Singh said, "Doubts have been raised regarding cancellation of e-tickets subsequent to the halting of railway passenger trains.

"It may be submitted that for trains cancelled by the railways in its complete run, refund on e-tickets is full and automatic. In this case, no cancellation exercise is required to be done on the part of the user," he said.

The IRCTC official said that if user cancels his e-ticket in situations of train cancellations, there are chances he may get "less refund". "Hence passengers are advised not to cancel e-tickets on their own for those trains which have been cancelled by the railways," he said.

He also said that the refund amount will be credited to the user account used for booking e-tickets automatically and no charges will be deducted by the railways in case of train cancellation.

His remarks came as the national transporter announced the suspension of the passenger, mail and express services from March 23 till March 31. However, the railways extended the suspension of services till April 14 in the wake of the three week lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from March 25 during his second special address to the nation on Tuesday night.

The railways has cancelled over 13,600 passengers trains across the country in a bid to combat the spread of novel coronavirus. Only freight trains are running to ensure the supply of essential services. About 9,000 freight trains are transporting essential items every day across the country.

On Wednesday, India recorded 562 cases of COVID-19 with 10 deaths.

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News Network
February 1,2020

New Delhi, Feb 1: India has uplifted 271 million people out of poverty, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday.

In her second Budget presentation, the finance minister said the Budget for 2020-21, is woven around aspirational India, economic development and caring society.

The government aims to achieve seamless delivery of services through digital governance, she added.

"We shall strive to bring ease of living for every citizen," Sitharaman said.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

New Delhi, Jul 30: India's gold demand in 2020 is expected to fall to the lowest level in 26 years with domestic bullion prices hitting a record high and as falling disposable incomes could curtail retail purchases, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Thursday.

Lower demand by the world's second-biggest bullion consumer could limit a rally in global prices, which hit a record high earlier this month, although it could also reduce India's trade deficit and support the ailing rupee.

"Fast rising gold prices could act as headwinds," said Somasundaram PR, the managing director of WGC's Indian operations.

Local gold futures have jumped 35% so far this year after rising a quarter in 2019.

India's gold consumption in the first half of 2020 plunged 56% on-year to 165.6 tonnes. Meanwhile, the coronavirus-triggered lockdown also slashed demand by 70% in the June quarter to 63.7 tonnes, the lowest in more than a decade, the WGC said in a report published on Thursday.

Millions of Indians have lost their jobs or taken a pay cut after the country imposed a lockdown on its 1.3 billion people to curb the spread of the virus that has infected more than 1.5 million Indians.

Consumption is generally high during the June quarter due to weddings and key festivals such as Akshaya Tritiya, but lockdown restrictions kept shoppers indoors this year.

The weak demand in the first half could drag down India's gold consumption in 2020 to the lowest since 1994, when demand stood at 415 tonnes, Somasundaram said, adding that it is still difficult to provide an estimate for full-year demand as the coronavirus crisis is still unfolding.

"Indian demand has previously jumped as much as 300 tonnes in a quarter. Latent demand could come out in the second half," Somasundaram said.

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