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Bangalore, Tuesday April 2, 2013, Pages 26 www.deccanherald.com Vol 66 No 92 4.00 B Ashish Tripathi NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed Swiss drugmaker Novartis’ bid to acquire patent for its cancer drug ‘Glivec’, in a de- cision which would give a major boost to Indian phar- ma companies selling cheaper generic for cancer treatment. A bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash De- sai said patent sought for the product, the beta crystalline form of ‘Imatinib Mesylate’ (generic), failed in both the “tests of invention and patentability” as mandated un- der different clauses of the Patent Act. The bench said, “No materi- al has been offered to indicate that the beta crystalline form of ‘Imatinib Mesylate’ will pro- duce an enhanced or superior efficacy (therapeutic) on mo- lecular basis than what could be achieved with Imatinib free base in vivo animal model.” The treatment cost for what was known as “wonder drug” came about Rs 1.20 lakh per month for a patient while the same for Indian generic was ranging something between Rs 8,000 and 10,000. The company claimed that the beta crystalline form of a chemical compound, called ‘Imatinib Mesylate’, is a thera- peutic drug for chronic myeloid leukemia and certain kinds of tumours. The drug was mar- keted under the names “Glivec” or “Gleevec”. The verdict by the apex court ended long-drawn legal battle waged by the Novartis AG which had first filed a patent appeal patent for ‘Imatinib Me- sylate’ in beta crystalline form at the Chennai Patent Office on July 17, 1998, claiming ad- ditional beneficial properties in the drug. “The submission is unac- ceptable both in law and on facts,” Justice Alam, who wrote the judgment on behalf of bench, said, rejecting the plea that the new form was an in- vention and carried enhanced therapeutic value. “Now, when all the pharmacological prop- erties of beta crystalline form of ‘Imatinib Mesylate’ are equally possessed by Imatinib in free base form or its salt, where is the question of the subject product having any en- hanced efficacy over the known substance of which it is a new form,” the bench asked. » Novartis, Page 8 Related report, Pages 8, 15 Edit: Landmark verdict, P10 SC dismisses Novartis bid for patent on ‘Glivec’ Order to boost Indian cos selling cheaper cancer drug NEW DELHI: Four hundred kilometres above the earth, Indian origin Nasa astronaut Sunita Williams missed some of her favourite things...early morning sea breeze caressing her face, the kiss of raindrops on her skin...and her pet dogs too. What she missed most was the daily tryst with nature, on- board the International Space Station, an artificial and habit- able satellite which became her home for 11 long months. The satellite has been circling the earth for more than 12 years. “I missed the morning winds in your face. The feel of sand in the toe while walking on the beach with my dogs (Gorby, the Terrier, and Bailey, the Labrador). I missed the animals more than my hus- band with whom I could com- municate from space,” she laughed, at an interaction with school children at the Nation- al Science Centre in Delhi on Monday. The 47-year-old space- woman, who spent 322 days in the ISS in two instalments in 2006-07 and 2012, is on a visit to India covering Mum- bai, Kolkata and her ancestral village in the Mehsana district of Gujarat. On her desire to experience nature while in space, Williams recalled how she once itched to get drenched in the rain after seeing a big rain cloud hovering over Mex- ico and how breathtaking was her first view of the earth from space. Quizzed on her Indian con- These are my favourite things missed in space, says Sunita New high nection, the astronaut con- fessed to have carried a copy of the Bhagvat Gita, a figurine of Lord Ganesha and samosas with her to space. “I have Ganeshas all over my house and you cannot simply get over with Indian food,” she said. She would not be flying any- time soon as she had to live on earth for some years to get rid of the cosmic radiation she was exposed to while in space. » Sunita, Page 8 Nasa astronaut Sunita Williams interacts with students and teachers at the NSC in New Delhi on Monday. PTI Petrol price cut by 111 paise State-run Indian Oil Corpora- tion (IOC) on Monday re- duced the retail selling prices of petrol by 111 paise per litre with effect from midnight Monday. Petrol will now cost Rs 67.29 a litre as against the existing Rs 68.31 in Delhi. In Bangalore, it will be Rs 73.94. Details on Page 8 Senior priest found murdered in City A senior Christian priest was found murdered at a seminary at Malleswaram on Monday morning, DHNS reports from Bangalore. The body of Fr K J Thomas, 64, the rector of St Peter’s Pontifical Seminary, was lying in a pool of blood in- side a room near his office- cum-residence. Details on Page 3 4 arrested in BSP leader murder case Four people, including two sus- pected shooters, were arrested in connection with the murder of Bahujan Samaj Party leader Deepak Bhardwaj on Monday, but those who hired the them are yet to be nabbed, DHNS re- ports from New Delhi. Details on Page 8 In brief NEW DELHI: Notwithstand- ing a hefty penalty imposed on it by the Competition Commission of India for abusing its “dominant” posi- tion to promote its commer- cial interests in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has seeming- ly continued with its mo- nopolistic financial prac- tices. On the eve of the IPL VI sea- son, the BCCI, in a fresh note addressed to media houses across the country on March 29, asked them to desist from any activity that could amount to using any IPL logo or con- tent in a way that might be deemed to be a commercially- driven activity. Restrains print media A newspaper, for instance, can- not use a third party to adver- tise on a news page dedicated to IPL coverage, or, no com- mercial logo can go along with a syndicated column, or a score-card sponsored by an ad- vertiser, etc. Stating that the BCCI en- joyed exclusive rights in these regards, the BCCI note stated that “it fully intends to and will enforce its rights against the unlicensed commercial utili- sation by third parties of the IPL, names, IPL marks and IPL proprietary content in contravention of the rights granted by the BCCI-IPL to its sponsors.” It stated that the print media was allowed to utilise the official logo only for “journalistic, news reporting and non-commercial purpos- es.” The note was sent out by Copyright Integrity Advisory (India) Pvt Ltd on behalf of the BCCI-IPL. It may be recalled, on Feb- ruary 8, the commission, on a complaint from a cricket fan in Delhi, had held that the “BCCI has abused its dominant posi- tion in contravention of Section 4(2) (C)” of the Competition Act, 2002. In its elaborate order, the commission had held that the BCCI, as a legitimate regulator of the game of cricket in India, was extending its monopoly regulatory powers in organis- ing IPL, which is a private pro- fessional league. In effect, the apex cricket body was using its monopoly regulatory powers for protect- ing its own commercial inter- ests, it had said. “The situation where the regulator is also the economic beneficiary leading to role over- laps is definitely a competition concern,” the commission had concluded. Imposing a hefty penalty of Rs 52.24 crore on the BCCI, the commission had, in its or- der, directed it, among others, to “cease and desist from using its regulatory powers in any way in the process of consider- ing and deciding any matter re- lating to its commercial activi- ties.” DH News Service BCCI seeks to extend IPL monopoly Disregards recent competition panel order |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Revival of hopes |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ■ Swiss firm Novartis had challenged Chennai-based patent office 2006 decision. ■ Had the firm won the case, Indian companies would have to stop making generic version of the blood-cancer drug ■ Verdict good for poor patients, say doctors ■ Novartis says it will not invest in research and development in India ■ Section 3(d) of patent law only for genuine inventions, says SC Anand Grover, a lawyer for the Cancer Patients Aid Association, who led the legal fight against Novartis in New Delhi on Monday. 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