The Hindu Business Line : Patent case: HC declines to restrain Cipla

Mumbai, March 19 Cipla will be able to continue selling its generic version of Roche’s lung-cancer drug Tarceva, after the Delhi High Court (HC) refused to grant an interim stay that would restrain Cipla from making and selling the medicine.

Roche had filed a patent-infringement suit against Cipla, after the Mumbai-based drug maker locally launched Erlotinib (the generic version of Tarceva), despite Roche having been granted a patent on the drug last year.

In its interim order the court, however, also asked Cipla to maintain accounts of sales, which would be relevant to calculate the damages to Roche, in case the Swiss-drug maker eventually won the case.

“Disappointed” with the day’s development, Roche’s Managing Director in India, Dr Girish Telang, told Business Line that “the country should respect the patent law and the patent agreement that we have with WTO (the World Trade Organisation)”. He declined to comment on whether the company would appeal today’s interim order.

The pricing of Tarceva also came in for a mention, with the court indicating that Cipla’s patent challenge was arguable, given that several patients were using the cancer drug and the price of Roche’s Tarceva was high, said a lawyer familiar with the case. Also, Roche did not manufacture the drug locally, it observed.

Cipla launched the drug late last year in the domestic market at Rs 1,600. Roche sells Tarceva at Rs 4,800 per tablet, tantamounting to over Rs 1 lakh per month, as the medicine is to be taken once a day.

Patent experts point out that Roche’s Tarceva was becoming the next Glivec. There too, the price difference between Novartis’ cancer drug Glivec and the generic similars made by local drug companies was steep. And this resulted in Glivec’s patent application drawing attention from local and international patient groups, besides a slew of litigations.

Ms Prathiba M. Singh, Cipla’s counsel, said that the interim order showed that the courts were capable of dealing with such patent issues.

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Roche files patent suit against Cipla over Tarceva

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