FRONTLINE
Apr 21 – May 04, 2012
PATENT TO PLUNDER
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1) A victory for Novartis could spell death for millions (The Hindu)
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2427529.ece
2) Novartis vs India: the court will decide (New Internationalist)
http://www.newint.org/features/web-exclusive/2011/11/29/novartis-india-patent-case/
3) Indian Supreme Court To Hear Novartis Challenge To India’s Patent Law (IP Watch)
http://www.ip-watch.org/2011/09/06/indian-supreme-court-to-hear-novartis-challenge-to-india-patent-law/
4) Novartis fights patent rejection in Indian court (WIBV)
http://www.wivb.com/dpp/health/cancer/novartis-fights-patent-rejection-in-indian-court
5) The war against Novartis is not yet won (Info Change)
http://infochangeindia.org/other/analysis/the-war-against-novartis-is-not-yet-won.html
6) One man is masterminding this stealthy attack on the health of millions — Ranjit Shahani, who heads Novartis India and India’s massively powerful pharmaceutical lobby group. When 100,000 people have signed the petition we’ll stage hard hitting actions targeting Shahani by name and push him to drop the case: http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_novartis_in_india/?vl
7) In days, Swiss pharma giant Novartis may get the Indian Supreme Court to shut down our supply of affordable medicines. If Novartis wins, it will stop Indian companies producing low-cost medicines, depriving millions around the world of the treatments they need. The final hearing is in 2 days — let’s call on Novartis to drop the case with a massive Indian public outcry. Sign the petition now:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_novartis_in_india/?cl=1684592596&v=13406
PRESS RELEASE: RE-LAUNCH OF “BOYCOTT NOVARTIS” CAMPAIGN
Novartis’ Supreme Court case threatens access to medicines in India and across the world
Drug Action Forum – Karnataka objects to Novartis’ long legal attack on health safeguards in India’s patent law
The Drug Action Forum – Karnataka (DAF-K), an organisation engaged in promoting issues related to public health in India, announces a call to boycott all products manufactured by Swiss MNC, Novartis, till Novartis withdraws its Supreme Court case (SC 20539 – 20549/2009) for seeking a patent on Glivec/Gleevec and abandon all its attempts and plans to misuse Indian decision making and redressal systems for its narrow ends. This is a renewal of the boycott call as the Supreme Court case hearing starts on 28thMarch 2012. The hearing on 28th March 2012 has posted the next hearing on Tuesday, 10th July 2012, as a result of the Mumbai terror attack trial running months behind schedule. The division bench in the Supreme Court comprises of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice Ranjana P Desai
THE FULL TEXT OF THE LETTER CAN BE DOWNLOADED FROM THE LINK GIVEN BELOW. (express solidarity with the campaign by disseminating the DAF-K press release to local media)
To,
Shri Salman Khurshid
Honourable Minister for Law & Justice,
Ministry of Law and Justice
A-Wing, 4th Floor, Shastri Bhawan
New Delhi – 110 001
Tel: 23387557/23384567
Fax: 23015223, 23384241
Re: Novartis AG v. Union of India and others (SC 20539 – 20549/2009)
and
Re: Urgent concerns over Supreme Court hearing
Dear Minister,
We are writing this letter to highlight an extremely sensitive matter regarding a sitting judge of the Supreme Court in an ongoing matter i.e. Novartis AG v. Union of India and others (SC 20539 – 20549/2009). The case is the final stage of an ongoing battle by Novartis’ two-fold attempt to get a patent on an anti-cancer medicine and weaken the health safeguards in the Indian Patent law.
TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL LETTER CLICK THE FOLLOWING LINK:-
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?dqbe1z2dgo87kbt
For the past 6 years drug giant Novartis has been pursuing a legal case in India that threatens access to life-saving affordable medicines for millions across the developing world.
As the case now opens before the Indian Supreme Court, join MSF & tell Novartis that people matter more than profits.
By Tatum Anderson for Intellectual Property Watch
One of the most vocal voices for the interests of cancer patients in India says it will use the courts to force the Indian government to declare cancer a national emergency, in an attempt to make cancer drugs affordable to sufferers.
The Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA) wants the Indian government to issue permits, called compulsory licences, for a number of drugs it has deemed unaffordable. Such permits would allow generic pharmaceutical companies to manufacture the drugs instead of the patent holders. It believes that the prices would then drop considerably.
Under Indian patent law, no one can apply for a compulsory licence for the first three years after a patent has been granted, unless the government declares one of four emergency criteria: a national emergency, extreme urgency, a case for public non-commercial use or a patentee has employed anti-competitive practices. (After three years anyone can apply for a licence under much broader set of criteria.) Continue reading
Times Of India
MUMBAI: The Novartis cancer drug patent case has taken a new turn with an online petition urging doctors and medical professionals to boycott the multinational. The Swiss pharma giant may plan to switch hundreds of millions of dollars in planned investments from India to other locations, primarily China, in response to a court ruling, but an Indian, non-government organisation has decided to clamour for the firm’s boycott.
The Drug Action Forum, Karnataka, has initiated the online petition since Novartis continues to fight a case in the Chennai high court, though the firm lost out an earlier verdict on Section 3 (d). The forum has said that if public opinion and pressure is not brought on the company, “then this single case that is currently in the court may have long term implications on access to medicines to people all over the world”.
By Keya Acharya , IPS news
BANGALORE, Aug 27 (IPS) – Activist groups campaigning for affordable drugs will continue their boycott campaign against Swiss pharma major Novartis AG, whose controversial petition arguing that Indian patent laws violated World Trade Organisation (WTO) provisions was rejected by the Madras High Court in southern Chennai city.
The reason for continuing the boycott is due to the company filing indirectly related appeals in the Madras High Court, Dr. Gopal Dabade, president of the Drug Action Forum of India in Karnataka state (DAF-K) and co-convenor of the All-India Drug Action Network (AIDAN) told IPS. Continue reading
THE HINDU, 13 August 2007
All further proceedings on the statutory appeals filed by Novartis, challenging the rejection of its patent application, pending before the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) were stayed by the Madras High Court on Thursday.
The First Bench comprising Chief Justice A.P. Shah and Justice P. Jyothimani granted the interim relief on a writ petition filed by Novartis AG stating that the IPAB had erred in dismissing its plea to exclude its Technical Member S. Chandrasekaran from hearing its statutory appeals.
The Bench has posted the matter to September 10 for further proceedings.
Novartis application to patent the beta crystalline form of imatinib mesylate was rejected by Chennai Patent Office in January 25, 2006. In April 2007, the High Court transferred the statutory appeals to the IPAB after a Technical Member was appointed and the Board became functional.
When the IPAB took up the appeal for hearing, Novartis sought to exclude Mr. Chandrasekaran from the Bench, on the ground that he had filed a counter-affidavit in support of the Union of India and the Controller-General of Patents and Designs and hence he would be biased against Novartis. In July 2007, the IPAB rejected the objections. The present writ petition challenges the rejection of its objections.
Describing the timing of appointment of Mr. Chandrasekaran as significant, the company said the IPAB had erred in rejecting its plea to request the Centre to appoint another member in lieu of Mr. Chandrasekaran.
The January 25, 2006 order rejecting Novartis patent application was passed by the Assistant Controller under the aegis of the erstwhile Controller-General Chandrasekaran, the petitioner said, adding that he had deposed an affidavit against Novartis in High Court before becoming a Technical Member of the IPAB. It said he would suffer from a prejudiced mindset and would not be able to apply his mind in an independent fashion. It said, It is well nigh impossible to expect that a person with an indelible mindset will be able to serve as an unbiased Technical Member (Patent).
It sought to quash the IPAB order and consequently direct the Board to remove Mr. Chandrasekaran from acting as a Technical Member (Patent) to hear the appeal and direct the Centre to appoint another Technical Member in his place.
BS Reporter / New Delhi August 8, 2007
The government of Switzerland will not be taking up the allegation by Novartis that Indian patent law is incompatible with the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement at the dispute settlement board of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“We accept any case settled in India. It is normal litigation, in which one party happens to be a company and another is a country,” said Doris Leuthard, federal councilor, department of economic affairs of the Swiss Confederation, here today.
Leuthard was in Delhi to sign a memorandum on cooperation in international property rights with India.Leuthard was responding to the Madras High Court verdict on Monday rejecting a Novartis petition that questioned the constitutional validity of Section 3(D) of the Indian Patents Act, which restricts patenting of minor improvements of known molecules.
In its judgment, the court had advised Novartis to approach the dispute settlement forum of the WTO on TRIPS compliance, for which the Swiss company would have had to approach its government (only countries, and not companies, can approach the WTO on matters of trade
policy). “We must have a reliable TRIPS system and the one in India is good enough,” said Leuthard, adding, “The Swiss government never gets involved in any judicial pronouncements of other countries.
However, Leuthard also said the impact of the verdict on prospective Swiss investors in India remained to be seen. “I do not know how Swiss companies will react to it. Maybe they will have a closer look at the verdict. Some of them may find thatinvesting in India may not be attractive,” she said.
Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said the Indian Patents Law was compatible with TRIPS. “It has been two years since the Indian Patents Act has been passed and no country has filed any complaint in the WTO yet. This Act is compliant with TRIPS,” said Nath, who was present on the occasion.