The Hindu Business Line : HC order on Novartis appeal hearing likely today

At loggerheads
The Government has suggested that the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman of the IPAB look into the issue.
Though the new proposal is acceptable to Novartis, Natco is said to have expressed its opposition.

P.T. Jyothi Datta

Mumbai, Oct. 22 A judgment is expected from the Madras High Court on Tuesday regarding who will hear Novartis’ appeal, following the original rejection of it’s patent application on cancer-drug Glivec.

The Government had, earlier this month, given a revised proposal stating that the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) look into the issue.

The Government’s suggestion was made following the objection from Novartis, when it petitioned the HC over the composition of the IPAB. Novartis had disagreed with the appointment of the former Controller-General, Mr Chandrasekaran, as a technical member on the IPAB. And this was because Mr Chandrasekaran was the head of the Indian Patent Office when it rejected Novartis’ Glivec patent application in January 2006.

The Government’s new proposal is acceptable to Novartis, but Natco is reported to have expressed its opposition in the Court on Monday, lawyers familiar with the case told Business Line. Hyderabad-based Natco is one of the few Indian drug companies, who along with the Cancer Patients Aid Association, had opposed the Glivec patent application at the Patent Office.

A likely judgment from the HC tomorrow is expected to set the stage for the IPAB Bench to look into the rejection of Novartis’ Glivec application.

Even as this case makes progress, the Madras HC had dismissed another case regarding Glivec in August this year, where Novartis had contested certain constitutional parameters that had contributed to the rejection of the patent application on Glivec.

Boycott against Novartis drugs

Beyond the Courts, meanwhile, a platform of 18 health-related national networks called the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan has urged doctors to boycott all products manufactured by the Swiss drug-maker till Novartis withdraws it’s case before the IPAB.

“The JSA has decided to issue the boycott call after prolonged deliberation, given the intransigent attitude shown by Novartis in obstructing access to a vital medicine for blood cancer. Novartis had first pressed for removal of a key public health safeguard in the Indian Patent Act and now continues to persist in pressing for a patent for its anti- leukemia drug, Gleevec (beta crystalline form of Imatinib Mesylate), after its application was rejected by the Indian Patent office,” a JSA note said.

Novartis, however, maintains that it provides free Glivec to more than 8,000 diagnosed patients in India for as long as they need it, under the Glivec International Patient Assistance Program.