Healthy Skepticism Library item: 7998

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Publication type: Journal Article

Mudur G.
MSF challenges Novartis's action over Indian patent for imatinib
BMJ 2007 Jan 27; 334:(7586):172
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/334/7586/172-b

Full text:

The international aid organisation Médicins Sans Frontières has called on the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis to withdraw its challenge to the Indian government, which has refused to give the company a patent on its leukaemia drug imatinib (Glivec).

In a case scheduled to be heard in an Indian court next week, Novartis has challenged sections of the Indian patent laws that are seen as an important public health tool by Médicins Sans Frontières, doctors, lawyers, and health activists, because they ensure cheap access to medicines. The sections do not allow patents for new applications for old drugs, or for products that are simply a new combination of old drugs.

Novartis started legal action after its patent application for the cancer drug imatinib was rejected by Indian patent examiners, who described it as a new form of a known substance. Indian manufacturers produce generic versions of imatinib mesylate that cost a . . .