Govt urges Novartis to desist from challenging Indian patent laws

The Centre has urged multi-national pharma company Novartis to desist from challenging India's patent laws and warned that it may force the country to go for compulsory licensing.

Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss told reporters here the government was concerned over Novartis filing a case in a Chennai court against Indian Patent laws.

''We are concerned about it and urge Novartis to desist from it,'' Dr Ramadoss said on being asked about his response to the Swiss based pharma company's action.

He said so far India was not indulging in compulsory licensing and warned ''we should not be forced to go for it.'' Novartis is seeking to overturn India's refusal to grant a patent on the cancer drug the company markets as Gleevec/Glivec and is also challenging the provision in the Indian Patents Act of 2005 which formed the basis for rejecting the Novartis patent.

The multi-national company is challenging a specific provision in India's patent law that restricts patenting of medicines to innovations only. If the provision were overturned, patents would be granted far more widely in India, heavily restricting the production of affordable medicines that has become crucial to the treatment of diseases across the developing world.

Earlier, almost a quarter of a million people from more than 150 countries, global health organisations and The Lancet have all asked Novartis to drop the case against India's patent law. This was in response to an international petition launched by Medicins Sans Frontieres to put pressure on the drug company to drop its legal action against India.

Nearly a quarter of a million persons from more than 150 countries have voiced concerns over the negative impact that a legal challenge brought by the multinational pharmaceutical company Novartis against India's patent law could have on access to medicines in developing countries.

Many developing countries rely on affordable medicines produced in India and such medicines constitute over half the AIDS drugs used in the developing world. India has been able to produce affordable versions of medicines patented elsewhere because until 2005, the country did not grant pharmaceutical patents.

The World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) obliged India to begin reviewing pharmaceutical patents in 2005. The TRIPS agreement, however, includes pro-public health safeguards that countries can implement and India has included some of these in its patent law.

The Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health, signed by governments in 2001, reinforced the right of countries to use these safeguards.

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