Supreme Court dismisses Bayer’s special leave petition against Natco
1 min read 13 Dec 2014, 12:40 AM ISTGerman drug maker challenged a July order of Bombay HC that upheld grant of a permit to produce a cheaper version of Bayer's patented kidney cancer drug sorafenib
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a special leave petition filed by German drug maker Bayer AG challenging a July order of the Bombay high court that upheld the grant of a permit to produce a cheaper version of Bayer’s patented kidney cancer drug sorafenib.
The apex court bench chaired by justices A.K. Goel and R.F. Nariman decided to dismiss the petition before admission.
Bayer had filed the petition making the Indian government, Natco Pharma Ltd and a few others, including a couple of not-for-profit healthcare groups, as parties to it.
India’s controller general of patents had in 2012 granted Natco a permit to make and sell a low-cost generic version of sorafenib, a lung and kidney cancer drug patented by Bayer in India and many other world markets. Bayer sells this drug under its brand name Nexavar worldwide.
The grant of the compulsory licence in India was on the ground that the patented drug, a life-saving medication for terminally ill cancer patents, was not adequately accessible in terms of cost and availability in the domestic market.
Following the grant, Bayer had appealed against it at the country’s patent disputes tribunal, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board, which had upheld the controller general’s decision, which prompted the company to challenge it at the Bombay high court.
With the dismissal of Bayer’s petition in the Supreme Court, the drug maker is now left with the option of taking the matter to international patent dispute forums such as the World Trade Organization.
“In the facts of the present case, we are not inclined to interfere. The special leave petition is dismissed, keeping all the questions of the law open," the Supreme Court said in its Friday order.
Bayer could not be reached for comments. Natco Pharma welcomed the decision.
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