1. Novartis AG v. Union of India, (2007) 4 MLJ 1153
Facts
- In 1997, Novartis, a Swiss based pharmaceutical giant filed an application to grant patent to an anticancer drug Glivec which is used to treat Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) and Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumours (GIST) on the basis that it invented the beta crystalline salt form (imatinib mesylate) of the free base, imatinib. It is a critical drug which is patented in about 35 countries of the world.
- Till 2005 India was not into granting patent to pharmaceutical products and agrochemical products. In the year 2005 India revised its patent law and started granting patents on pharmaceutical drugs. In 2006, the Madras Patent Office refused the patent application of Novartis for its drug Glivec stating that the said drug did not exhibit any major changes in therapeutic effectiveness over its pre-existing form, which was already patented outside India. The said decision was based on Section 3(d) of the Indian Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005 which provides a known substance can only be patented if its Read More
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