Delhi HC seeks response on Natco's patent challenge plea

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought responses from the Controller of Patents, Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG, UK-based Astex Therapeutics and others on a petition by Natco Pharma challenging the grant of a patent for breast cancer drug Ribociclib to two multinationals.

Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani said the court would first decide whether Natco's petition was maintainable after Novartis and Astex argued that the company had an alternative statutory remedy under the Patents Act. He listed the case for hearing on September 16.

Challenging the Deputy Controller of Patents and Designs' July order that granted a patent registration to Novartis and Astex, Natco told the court that the patent office had erred by failing to appreciate that by securing two patents for the same invention Novartis and Astex were unlawfully extending the term of protection of the patent.


Even after the previous patent's expiry, the multinationals will continue to assert unlawful rights over the same molecule, which is a clear case of double patenting, Natco alleged in its petition filed through counsel Afzal Badr Khan of S. Majumdar & Co.

While Novartis and Astex had filed a patent application 'Pyrrolopyrimidine Compounds as CDK Inhibitors' (Ribociclib) in 2011, claiming the compound Ribociclib is used to treat early, advanced, or metastatic breast cancer, Natco had filed its opposition to the patent application.

Natco claimed that there was lack of inventive step for the second patent as Novartis and Astex s had earlier already claimed the patent on Ribociclib in genus application, which has an earlier priority date. However, the patent authority rejected the objections.