Novartis sues Biocon
pharmafile | April 4, 2014 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Biocon, Galvus, Gilead, Herceptin, Novartis, sofosbuvir
India’s status as a battleground for patent issues has been reinforced with the news that Novartis is suing Biocon over an alleged infringement of its $1.2 billion-selling diabetes brand Galvus.
Recent high-profile cases include Gilead Sciences running into pricing and patent issues with its new hepatitis C treatment sofosbuvir, while Roche decided not to pursue its Indian patent application for blockbuster breast cancer drug Herceptin.
However, in February the Delhi High Court agreed with Roche that Biocon and Mylan could not compare their generic products to the brand in marketing campaigns.
Now Novartis is seeking an injunction at the same court to stop Biocon from launching a generic version of Galvus (vildagliptin).
Reuters reports that the court has ordered Biocon not to manufacture, sell or export vildagliptin until another court hearing.
Biocon disputed this in a statement, saying: “Biocon has not been issued any injunction on vildagliptin, nor has Biocon launched the product in India. There is no impact on our immediate plans for this product.”
Novartis told Reuters: “A robust and predictable intellectual property system is an essential pillar of an innovative life science industry.”
However, the Indian government has been robust in not letting western pharma companies have their own way in this sizeable market.
And there have been fears about how well made, and safely exported, medicines are there: earlier this year the US Food and Drug Administration announced it would put more inspectors on the ground in India.
The country’s pharma industry already supplies 40% of OTC and generic prescription drugs consumed in the US, but Indian drug plants such as Ranbaxy’s have had significant problems.
Global firms see the potential, however: GlaxoSmithKline paid £625 million last month to
Boost its stake in its India subsidiary from 50.7% to 75%, for example.
Adam Hill
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