To recapitulate on the Novartis patent saga in the country, several leading pharmaceutical companies, including Ranbaxy, Sun Pharmaceuticals and CIPLA have consistently opposed the grant of a patent to Novartis’ blood cancer drug ‘Glivec”. The claim before the Intellectual Property Appellate Board was appealed against by Novartis with respect to the appointment of a technical member. This rejection was overturned by the Madras High Court, which held that the Chairman of the IPAB could, in fact, act as the technical member.As the Novartis saga continues, the Supreme Court on the 28th of January, 2008, has stayed this controversial Madras High Court order. While the final decision on the matter is yet to be taken, the Supreme Court has probably taken a step in the right direction. As was stated in a previous post there is no sense in stating that a body to decide technical matters in a patent claim, need not have a technical member on board!
Let’s hope at least this order of the Apex Court, is (and I cannot resist this pun) here to “stay”!
