Supply of cheap, copycat drugs for the developing world could be badly threatened if Swiss firm Novartis wins a challenge to India's patent law, medical charity MSF said on Monday.
The warning came as the Supreme Court was due to hear more arguments Tuesday in an appeal by Novartis seeking patent protection for a newer version of its leukaemia drug Glivec -- a case watched closely by global pharmaceutical firms."If the patent law challenge is successful, it would have a devastating impact on access to affordable medicines across the developing world," Leena Menghaney, India representative of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), told a news conference.
Novartis is contesting the Indian patent office's rejection of a patent application for the updated version of Glivec that is better absorbed by the body. MSF calls the improvement a "minor modification".
The drugmaker's challenge goes to the heart of India's patent act, which says a patent cannot be granted for an old drug unless changes make it significantly more therapeutically effective.
The Supreme Court case is the final act in a lengthy legal battle between Novartis and patient rights groups in India, where local firms produce generic drugs at a fraction of the cost of brand-name originals.
Indian generic versions of Glivec sell for 8,000 rupees ($174) for a month's treatment compared with 120,000 rupees for the brand-name version, MSF said.
Pharmaceutical multinationals argue that protecting patents is crucial to stimulating the research and development of new drugs.
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