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Written By: Admin | Updated : May 1, 2014 6:56 PM IST
In a landmark judgement, the Indian Supreme court dismissed the patent plea for an anti-cancer drug called Glivec by Novartis AG. Anti-leukaemia drug Glivec is one of the blockbuster drugs for the Swiss company, mopping up global sales of nearly $4 billion and its treatment costs around $36,000 per patient per year.
This comes after two other such compulsory licensing cases involving pharma giants Bayer (for Nexavar) and another leukemia drug by Bristol Myers. The Big pharma approached the Supreme court after the Comptroller General of Patent and Design had denied patent to Glivec on several grounds including its alleged failure to meet stipulations under sections 3(d) and 3(b) of the Indian Patent Law. According to section 3(b), patents are not given to products that neither show any increased efficacy over existing products nor do anything in the interest of the general public. Section 3(d) does not allow patents for drugs which are already in use except if the new drug is proven to be far more superior in terms of efficacy.
What does this mean for us?
Indian drug companies can now manufacture generic cancer drugs making the treatment for cancer much more affordable. Glivec is used to treat chronic myeloid leukemia and other cancers.
What is compulsory licensing?
It's a practice by which a company's intellectual property rights can be overruled. The WTO-TRIPS 2006 gives developing nations' governments the right to hand out compulsory licenses in case it deems that the product is too costly for the public. It's particularly important in drug pricing because it allows local companies the right to create generic versions of drugs and sell them at a lower rate. The Indian Patent office became the first government body to hand out one when they allowed a local pharma to re-engineer an expensive foreign cancer drug and sell it at a cut-price rate.
