Indian Court Ruling in Novartis Case Protects India as the ‘Pharmacy of the Developing World’

New Delhi/Geneva, August 6, 2007 — The landmark decision by the High Court in Chennai to uphold India’s Patents Act in the face of the challenge by Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis is a major victory for patients’ access to affordable medicines in developing countries, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) stated today. “This is a huge relief for millions of patients and doctors in developing countries who depend on affordable medicines from India,” said Dr. Tido von Schoen-Angerer, Director of the MSF Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines. “The Court’s decision now makes Indian patents on the medicines that we desperately need less likely. We call upon multinational drug companies and wealthy countries to leave the Indian Patents Act alone and stop pushing for ever stricter patent regimes in developing countries.” Novartis took the Indian government to court over its 2005 Patents Act because it wanted a more extensive granting of patent protection for its products than offered by the law. Novartis claimed that India’s Patents Act did not meet rules set down by the World Trade Organization and was in violation of the Indian constitution. Apparently all of Novartis’s claims have been rejected by the High Court today. Image source: accessmed-msf.org. > Continue.

News selected by Covalence | Country: India | Company: Novartis | Source: MSF