Chennai court rejects Novartis patent challenge

By S. Murari

CHENNAI (Reuters) - A court rejected on Monday a challenge by Novartis to Indian law that denies patents for minor improvements to known drugs, and the Swiss drug giant said it was unlikely to appeal.

The closely-watched case in the Madras High Court had become a key battle in the long-running war between multinational drug firms and humanitarian campaigners, who say "big pharma" is putting patents ahead of patients.

The court in Chennai rejected the challenge, saying it had no jurisdiction on whether Indian patent laws complied with intellectual property rules set by the World Trade Organisation, as Novartis had questioned.

Novartis had said a part of the law violated the Indian constitution as it was "vague" and gave arbitrary powers to patent authorities.

But the two-judge bench dismissed the challenge, saying Novartis was "no novice" in pharmacology to not understand a law that says a patent applicant has to show that the discovery "resulted in enhancement of known efficacy of the substance".

The objective of the Indian patent act, they said, was also to "provide easy access to citizens to life-saving drugs".

"We disagree with this ruling, however we likely will not appeal to the Supreme Court," a Novartis spokeswoman said by phone from Basel, in Switzerland. "We await the full decision to better understand the court's position."

A statement from Novartis said that the ruling would "have long-term negative consequences for research and development into better medicines for patients in India and abroad".