-The Economic Times Foreign pharma companies could be forced to overhaul their strategy for the Indian market by striking more local deals and cutting sky-high drug prices after the Supreme Court slammed the door on Swiss giant novartis' attempts to gain a patent for its blood cancer-busting drug Glivec. But the ruling, welcomed by activists campaigning for affordable drugs and local generic companies, threatened to reinforce a narrative that India...

-The Times of India The Supreme Court on Monday rejected pharma giant novartis AG's plea to preserve its patent over a life-saving cancer drug, Glivec, drawing a huge sigh of relief from thousands of patients in India and in dozens of developing countries as the fear of an almost 15-fold escalation of drug costs receded. It is the biggest setback for multinational pharma companies, which have been denied patent protection...

-The Economic Times Extension of life is priceless. Simply priceless." These were the words of Venkat Krishnan (name changed) to novartis after receiving treatment with Glivec for about two years. Following his diagnosis with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), Venkat married his college sweetheart against the wishes of her family. After all, the prognosis in those days for people suffering from CML was not promising. Taking interferon, a powerful immune therapy, was the...

-The Hindu   Supreme Court rejects novartis' plea for patent; green signal for cheaper generic drugs In a ruling that will help patients continue to buy several life-saving medicines as generic drugs, the Supreme Court on Monday held that the modification of a well known cancer-fighting drug is not a patentable new invention. The judgment allows suppliers to continue making generic copies of Swiss firm novartis' Glivec or Gleevec, which has been shown to...

-Live Mint SC judgement may not open a floodgate of revenues for local pharma firms; nevertheless, it is a psychological win The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by novartis AG to revoke denial of a patent to its cancer drug Glivec. The judgement is important because multinational companies (MNCs) can be denied patent protection on improved drugs unless they can prove the medication has better efficacy. Although this decision will displease...